Casa Shelly, Awarded Eco-Home

Casa Shelly is located 20 minutes away from San José del Cabo, in Laguna Hills community, Cabo del Este (The East Cape). For the benefit of architectural studio ColectivoMX, Laguna Hills is one of the building developments that started before the real estate boom in Los Cabos took place; therefore, the infrastructure consisted of only a subdivision of land into lots, land roads and unique vegetation, which helped the community to keep its main attraction – its natural beauty.

The initial needs of our client, an excellent photographer and surfer, fit the aesthetics and urban treatment we had always meant to capture in Baja. He set some basic requirements – low consumption of energy and water, maintenance to a minimum and economic convenience. These requirements, added to ours – preservation of unique vegetation, minimum pollution during the building process, use of workforce and local materials, and natural ventilation – laid the grounds for a project which would only use 5 different materials produced in the zone – concrete, steel, wood, aluminum and glass – as well as a sun-and-wind based design.

The house is located in the south of the mountain with an honest view to the Mar de Cortés. The friendly weather and lack of rain allow the outdoor area to become an integrated part of daily life, which gives independence to spaces and users, therefore. 3 independent volumes and 2 vertical connections – one covered with a roof and one uncovered – make up this architectural layout.

The 2-story main volume comprises a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, a bathroom, a warehouse and a wash area on the first floor, and the main bedroom – with a private bathroom – on the top floor. The two floors are connected through an independently placed staircase, protected from the exterior by latticework concrete, which makes one interact with the natural environment. The living room, dining room and kitchen are all integrated in the same space for casual use. The view, a key element of this space, faced in an unfavorably way, which was solved by protecting it with a huge parasol connecting the main volume to the swimming pool. On the top floor, this parasol enlarges the habitable space including an outdoor shower and a sunbathing area which gives a feel of floating over vegetation.

For volumes on the first floor, land contact was taken into account. The staircase connecting volumes opens up to the sky, and the joint giving access was used to create a yard which makes it good to take a rest from the main view. During the process of excavating soil for foundation, what seemed to be just a small stone wound up to be the perfect ornament to this area.

One of the rooms is used to retain both the swimming pool and the top terrace, and its roof, in turn, is used as an outdoor lounge. Cross drafts due to its location were solved with a wind chimney that works with temperature changes. This room only received the light filtered through the top of the trees, so advantage was taken from the adjacent location of the swimming pool to create a window, and thus allow light in causing a constant movement effect when it is sieved by water. This window has been a perfect means to take memorable photographs under the water.

So that little maintenance would be required, the outside was finished in polished concrete with color incorporated to it, which wears out as the house in turn does and protects it from water. The inside consists of plaster painted in white, and the rest is wood, polished concrete, clear glass and natural aluminum.

As part of the commitment from the client and ColectivoMX to ecology, the house design includes a system to reuse grey water for watering, solar cells for electricity, ceiling fans instead of air conditioning, an emergency gas generator and a swimming pool with saltwater managed through solar panels.

This project has been welcomed by the neighbors and architects community. The jury of the 10^th Bienniale of Mexican Architecture, the Federation of Architecture Colleges of the Mexican Republic, the National Academy of Architecture, and the National Council for Culture and Arts (CONACULTA) agreed to award “Casa Shelly” with a silver medal as the best of its kind.

ColectivoMX expects that projects like this will trigger passive consumption of energy in weekend houses in the peninsula, making new project developers aware and paving the way for a new generation of architects committed to their job and environment.

Architecture: ColectivoMX
Project Leader: Javier Gutiérrez Toscano
Design Team: Antonio Plá, Fátima Chavarría, Ulrike Margull
Structural Engineering and Facilities: Gerson Huerta
Construction: ColectivoMX
Location: Cabo del Este, Baja California Sur, México
Area: 312 m2
Price: 280,000 USD
Project Date: 2008
Client: David and Shelly Martínez
Photographs: ColectivoMX, David Martínez