An architect's house is one of the most beautiful residences we can find. In the northern Mexican state of Nuevo León, the mountains of the Sierra Madre form a dramatic backdrop of the city of Monterrey, located about 160 km west of the Texas border. The region is an economic power of the country, and a place where contemporary art museums and galleries are as attractive as the cobbled streets and the eighteenth -century mansions of its historic center.
In the accommodated neighborhood of San Pedro Garza García, in Monterrey, Mauricio Lobeira, co -founder of the Director Design Company Te Ten Plus Three, based in Dallas, decided to build a house from scratch with his partner, Mauricio de la Garza, founder and chief designer of Dornato, a landscape design company. (Lobeira divides his time between Mexico and Texas).
«I had in mind to build a house or buy an apartment in Monterrey,» says Lobeira, «when I was looking for options, I said with the perfect land in a quiet residential area. It is a neighbor of a park with abundant trees that create the perfect oasis in front of the nearby streets and has a path right to the side of a stream» This stream, in fact, generates a microclimate that over time would be useful to create a green garden that now
Although it was a strange land, according to Lobeira, with its irregular and inclined land, the architect excited the challenge, and being newly construction, «I had total creative freedom to do what I wanted and turn it into a home, the house of an architect,» he says.
The house, which ended in 18 months, contains all the elements that Lobeira and La Garza imagined, among which a large room that encompasses a living rooma bar, the dining room and the staircase that leads to the bedrooms: “The whole space is connected by a wooden roof, and the only division is a unique floating wall. This wall was added so that visitors did not see the entire space at first glance and to leave some surprise factor «when traveling», says Lobeira. He also wanted to optimize every centimeter of the house, and managed to designing a plant without a single hall, so that each square meter could potentially be used in some way, No dead spaces.
«As for the sensations, I wanted a very warm and familiar atmosphere,» adds Lobeira. Wooden soils, wood roofs and fabrics with textures are the trick, along with the contrast of materials. The sharpness of a bronze mirror or the hard steel railing of the stairs, for example, give the house a refined but decidedly modern appearance.
In the bedrooms, the vaulted ceilings give a feeling of amplitude, and the huge windows open to the garden and the treetops, inviting to enter outdoors. «In the bathrooms, I wanted to use as much natural and bright light as possible, so I added Claraboyas and windows«says the designer.
Lobeira was inspired by the nature of the materials: the warmth of the wood, the resistance of the stone facade, together with the steel and the glass, which he designed to function together. As for his favorite corners of his new creation, the dining room and the bedroom are the first to come to mind: «I suppose it is because both spaces are surrounded by huge windows that let the vegetation into, and this creates an immediate impact on my mood,» he says. «The warmth and serenity that is felt in each room, and the amount of light and plant life that enters through those windows is a true reward.»