The Alférez House in Cañada de Alferes, Mexico, designed by Ludwig Godefroy Architecture, is a remarkable blend of the romantic notion of a cabin and the protective element of a fortress.
The holiday house is built to offer its inhabitants a strong sense of security while seeking to resemble an object that would have been deposited on the ground, among the trees. The result is a house characterized by the meeting of language between the idea of a cabin and a fortress, expressed in the use of concrete.
The house is designed with a compact footprint and a small foundation to avoid a complex and costly foundation due to the steep slope of the terrain. The house is mounted on the natural slope, flying among the pines on its southwest corner, and semi-buried on its opposite northeast corner. The house seeks to recreate the feeling of a cabin suspended in the natural topography of its terrain. The structure expresses a perfect balance of its foundation, generating a singular contrast between the feeling of lightness of a cabin on one side, balanced by the weight of a concrete fortress on the other.
The Alférez House increases its height to seek the light among the trees and at the same time form a relationship with the top of those majestic pines present on the ground. The house's configuration is developed in semi-levels around a double height, with high windows and skylights on the roof. The high volume of its double height allows the distribution of light in all interior spaces and compensates for the loss of windows on the first floor that protects the inhabitants from any intrusion.
The Alférez House is an excellent example of how architecture can be designed to balance contrasting elements. Its use of concrete as a protective material creates a strong sense of security for its inhabitants while providing a perfect balance of lightness and weight
