Torres House designed by GLR Architecs, Mexico

Set high in the Sierra Madre mountain range, the Torres House seeks to establish an intimate contact with the natural environment in which it is located. Discreetly open towards the street, the house is accessed by crossing over a fountain from which a huge oak free emerges, impressive both for its size and its beauty.
Once on the porch, a grand mural like door constructed of marble, wood and steel welcomes the visitor.
Inside, the entry hall merges into an area of contrasting materials consisting of Santo Tomas marble and volcanic stone walls. From this area there is a visual continuity with the rest of the house and with the garden that was left in its natural state as a small oak forest.
In the living room, conceived almost as a glass box, one can experience the view to the Sierra Madre peaks in the distance and the garden near by. Owing to its location within the mountain, where winters can get really cold, there is a fireplace for the family to gather around in the evenings.
From the dining room and the media room, one can access the roof terrace and enjoy the splendid views of the Sierra Madre as well as of the city of Monterrey. Here is the musical background of the sounds of nature is in sharp contrast to the roar of the city below.

Source : glrarquitectos

Eucaliptos House designed by GLR architecs, Mexico

The projects starts from a series of physical conditions that make of the site a place of great aesthetic potential due to the huge trees and the little creek that can be found in the back of it.
On the other hand, the future expansion of the street which it is located demanded a considerable setback, which forced the scheme to be a compact one, so that we could keep some useful area for a garden near the living room.
Looking for some design principle that could be carried out troughout the project, we decided to emulate the basic geometry of the site, which suggested us to propose three walls of large dimensions. Through the subtle rotation of one such walls, we found the opportunity to create an irregular, double height space, which begins as a porch on it’s widest end, to then become a hall and gradually narrow until becoming a simple circulation zone.
The different finishes given to the surfaces, searches for a subtle contrast between the plain white stucco of the volumes and prefabricated panels made of travertine marble covering the large walls that articulate the whole project. This was done with the purpose of reinforcing the architectural expression of such walls, with a touch of color from natural materials that will not put the performance of the project at risk for the years to come.









Source : glrarquitectos