Casa Lila or The Glass House

Mexico City, one of the largest cities in the world, has traditionally had a low density for high-income housing. That has been changing recently. This House is the newest to go up in a family compound. Initially there were 5 houses in a 2.5-acre lot (1 Hectare). The lot was subdivided into 8 lots in the 70’s and then into 23 in the 90’s. The House lot is 400 square meters about 1/10 of an acre, with a street front width of 10 meters (33 l.f.).

One of the 5 original houses occupies the back of the lot. In turn the house’s garden is the front of that house’s lot. Eventually that house will be rebuilt with more density and in it’s own lot allowing for full use of the back garden of the lot.

Typically Houses in Mexico City are wall enclosed from the street. Crime has increased with the growth of the city, and the street elevation faces the north, so it is a solid wall.

The site is within a classified Historical Character area called “Chimalistac, San Angel”, with XVI Century Churches and cobbled stones streets. One of the predominant styles there is the Mexican Minimalist or Barragan Style.

Before I started my practice, Barragan’s right hand man of many years had done my sister’s home on the adjacent lot. I learned from it, and realized the style’s purity and accent of color were peaceful and attractive, however not taking full advantage in the use of natural light due to the size and shape of most of the windows. Given an open country site lot this is usually not a problem, as windows can surround the house, however in a densified lot and the lot’s sharing logistics mentioned before, and with the shading of some beautiful mature trees, something had to be done to allow as much natural light as possible, which was one of our important goals.

I had designed and built over 100 “Aca Joe” stores (in Mexico and in the USA in the late 80’s and early 90’s) with very large structural glass storefronts, and was passionate about the material. As an early promoter of Gla