Rain Harvest Residence – is situated inside Reserva el Peñón, a landscape-driven growth which has achieved water self-sufficiency for a neighborhood of 80 households in 450 acres of a nature reserve, two hours from Mexico Metropolis. The Reserve framed our considering round sustainability typically, and rainwater harvesting particularly. It pushed us to assume at a bigger stage the place the entire Reserve grew to become the location, and the house was one piece of that. We additionally thought of how we may discover the bigger problems with water conservation in Mexico, with this being an instance of how one can harvest rainwater on a small scale that would then apply to different initiatives. That grew to become a driver in a strong manner. It was an concept that advanced over the course of the design course of, and because the shopper grew to become more and more excited about cultivating a wholesome, holistic life-style the place they may dwell in concord with the land.

Architizer chatted with Robert Hutchison from Robert Hutchison Structure, and Javier Sanchez from JSa Arquitectura, to be taught extra about this mission.

Architizer: What impressed the preliminary idea on your design?

Robert Hutchison & Javier Sanchez: The transient was easy: the shoppers needed a small cabin to benefit from the mountainous website. Valle de Bravo has a dry season and a wet season, and the solar performs a trick daily in each of these seasons. You possibly can benefit from the solar, however it’s a must to watch out with it. Right here, you could have areas which are open and lined; enclosed and lined; and out of doors and uncovered. You want all three qualities, so we would have liked to make that occur throughout the three constructions.

At the beginning, the mission had a easy, basic program: 2 bedrooms, a rest room, and a kitchen. After we had been on website, we began growing the concept of splitting up this system into separate buildings. It began with desirous to separate the perform of bathing, which led to the concept of the bathhouse. After which the separate studio emerged from that.

© JSa Arquitectura, Robert Hutchison Structure

© JSa Arquitectura, Robert Hutchison Structure

This mission received within the tenth Annual A+Awards! What do you imagine are the standout elements that made your mission win?

Rain Harvest Residence affords a mannequin for designing regeneratively with water. The house is 100% water autonomous and, in occasions of surplus, it’s water optimistic and feeds extra water again into the neighborhood’s bigger reservoir system. Not solely does the design assist restore the microclimate of the location, nevertheless it stands as a testomony to the potential of rainwater harvesting for off-grid, self-contained water techniques that remove reliance on municipal water sources. On the identical time, the component of water contributes to the general spatial and experiential high quality of the mission, reconnecting folks with their atmosphere by participating the senses. Greater than every other component, conserving and bettering the standard of water as a treasured useful resource has the potential to dramatically enhance the well being and sustainability of constructed environments in Mexico, and past.

© JSa Arquitectura, Robert Hutchison Structure

© JSa Arquitectura, Robert Hutchison Structure

What was the best design problem you confronted throughout the mission, and the way did you navigate it?

Integrating the rainwater system was an preliminary design problem, and continues to be an on a regular basis problem. Now, the rain harvesting system and on-site reservoir are a studying laboratory the place the shoppers are regularly studying about how the system performs. Understanding that the water and meals techniques on website are a part of a residing course of that fluctuates relying on altering pure circumstances, the shopper continues to experiment in methods to optimize the system by way of seasonal calibrations and refinements. Nothing is as goal as science would make it appear as a result of issues are all the time altering over time relying on how a lot it rains, and when. The home has to dwell with that, and it’s a relentless studying expertise for us as designers. It’s about integrating design into the cycle of water and of life.

© JSa Arquitectura, Robert Hutchison Structure

© JSa Arquitectura, Robert Hutchison Structure

How did the context of your mission — environmental, social or cultural — affect your design?

The positioning is comparatively flat, however sits inside a mountainous atmosphere. Throughout are cliffs and steep slopes, however our website rests in a small plateau vegetated with steady, single-story-high shrubs and brush. Due to these website circumstances, we needed to make the buildings disappear throughout the vegetation. This is the reason we designed a collection of three low pavilions that nestle into the panorama and are dispersed throughout the location. We needed a robust connection between every constructing and the panorama. Usually as architects, we take into consideration how areas are created between buildings, however this was about letting the panorama be that interstitial house. The panorama turns into the connection between the buildings, simply because it delineates the areas between them. Whenever you transfer by way of the location, there’s an expertise of the buildings continually disappearing and reappearing. It’s a technique of discovery.

© JSa Arquitectura, Robert Hutchison Structure

© JSa Arquitectura, Robert Hutchison Structure

How vital was sustainability as a design standards as you labored on this mission? 

Inside La Reserva, every house is required to include rain harvesting, with most of it coming from the person dwelling’s rainwater harvesting system and a small portion coming from the reserve’s reservoirs. We needed to attempt to increase the bar and see if we may harvest 100% of our water from our particular person website, relatively than rely upon exterior sources. This was vital as a result of there’s a main water scarcity in Mexico Metropolis, which is absurd as a result of it rains loads, however we don’t harvest that rainwater. As a substitute, we pump water out and in from the valley. As designers, we have to speak about these points inside our designs and experiment with new prospects. Typically when you’ve got a constructed instance, it’s simpler to know new prospects, notably round rainwater harvesting.

© JSa Arquitectura, Robert Hutchison Structure

© JSa Arquitectura, Robert Hutchison Structure

© JSa Arquitectura, Robert Hutchison Structure

© JSa Arquitectura, Robert Hutchison Structure

Group Members

Sean Morgan, RHA; Bernice Solis, JSa

Consultants

TAF Alejandro Filloy, Bykonen Carter Quinn, Helene Carlo, MicMac Estructuras, Rhometal, Miguel Nieto, Teoatonalli

For extra on Rain Harvest Residence, please go to the in-depth mission web page on Architizer.

Rain Harvest Residence Gallery