Wallpaper 5

WRITER: JONATHAN BELL

‘From our irst conversation with the client,

we thought this would be a conventional

weekend house,’ says architect Fernanda

Canales of Casa Bruma, a remarkable

retreat located just a couple of hours

outside Mexico City. ‘However, when we

visited the remote and rural site, it was

hard to even work out the shape of the plot,’

she continues. ‘There were no markings

and just so much vegetation.’

Canales, who collaborated on the project

with architect Claudia Rodríguez, a former

fellow student who now works with Taller

de Operaciones Ambientales in Mexico

City, realised they needed another strategy.

‘For a start, we couldn’t remove any existing

trees, and it was hard to ind a single

space on the site longer than ive metres,’

she recalls. ‘So we decided to develop the »

DARK AGE

A cluster of blackened concrete pavilions

forms a discreet retreat outside Mexico City

CLOCKWISE FROM BELOW,

THE CONCRETE FAÇADE,

DARKENED WITH A BLACK

PIGMENT; LOCAL STONE

PAVING AND NATURALISTIC

PLANTING IN THE CENTRAL

COURTYARD; THE PROPERTY

COMPRISES NINE PAVILIONS,

SOME WITH GREEN ROOFS,

ARRANGED TO FIT AROUND

THE SITE’S TOPOGRAPHY

AND EXISTING TREES

Photography: Rafael Gamo

∑ 141

In Residence