Reflecting the colours and character of the cliffs in the area, RA! architecture studio designed Casa LL, a single-family home on the slopes of Tepozteco Hill in the Mexican town of Tepoztlán. The home seems to emerge from the rocks of the hill, appearing to be a volume sculpted to be habitable.

The remains of the pyramid at the top of the hill and the tradition of craftsmanship mark life in the town where the house is located. The project seeks inspiration in the hill and opens up to it, expanding its spaces to give it the importance required by the beauty of the surrounding landscape.
The complex designed by RA! responds to a geometric configuration fragmented into different prisms that are joined and separated according to the needs to give shape to the spaces that make up the house. Access to the different volumes is through alleys and courtyards that compress the house at specific points and guide us into its interior.

The construction of the dwelling is developed by means of a system of expanded polystyrene panels covered in a three-dimensional wire structure with which the concrete, tinted in a similar tone to the colours reflected by the mountain, is poured to the outside, thus achieving the desired rocky appearance.


LL House by RA!. Photograph by Mariana Achach.
 

Project description by RA!

Under the cliffs of Tepozteco emerges LL House, where its monoliths settle as if the weathered stones of the hill had been sculpted to inhabit them.

The geometric composition of the house responds to a fragmentation of prisms that join and separate to shape its internal spaces. They come together to create amplitude and disperse to retreat into solitude.

Each of the volumes denies the views from the street, thus creating the volumetric gesture through which the house begins to be discovered. Towards the hill, the house opens its windows and expands its spaces to pay homage to the beauty of the mountains. Once crossing the access alleys between the large blocks that compress us and guide us inside, a transition occurs where there is a brutal expansion towards the generous garden and the view of the mountains.

The extensive garden is surrounded by the resting areas of the house: four bedrooms and the living room. The remaining fragments detach from the garden to appropriate the residual spaces, creating new courtyards and staggered views that allow the entry of natural light in the afternoon. The construction of the house uses a system of expanded polystyrene panels covered with a three-dimensional wire structure, through which the concrete tinted with tones that abstract the hue of the mountain filters outward.

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Architects
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RA!. Lead architects.- Cristóbal Ramírez de Aguilar, Pedro Ramírez de Aguilar, Santiago Sierra.
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Project team
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Daniel Martínez, Lourdes Gamez.
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Collaborators
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MEP.- Antonio Villarreal.
Structure.- Daniel Manzanares.
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Area
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Indoors.- 481 sqm.
Outside.- 719 sqm.
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Dates
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Design.- 2023 January.
Completed.- 2024 April.
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Location
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Tepoztlán, Morelos, Mexico.
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Manufacturers
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Covintec, Cemex.
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Photography
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RA!. Architecture studio founded by Pedro Ramírez de Aguilar, Santiago Sierra and Cristóbal Ramírez de Aguilar in 2017 and based in Ciudad de México.

They understand architecture as the study and production of spaces that stimulate and shelter the human being. Through this thinking, RA! classifies architecture according to human relationships: social, personal and interpersonal, always placing the individual at the centre of their project.

The studio seeks an architectural proposal through questioning, research and the use of various tools ranging from drawing to the production of videos, models and coordination with specialists to express, explore and communicate every detail, in order to excite those who inhabit it.

RA! is in constant exploration, so experimentation is a process inherent to its vision. Experimental projects such as competitions, installations and academic exercises, allow the practice to explore new design possibilities and unknown tools to maintain a constantly evolving vision.
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