The Mexican practice 1i Arquitectura has created House of the Tall Trees - a sylvan weekend retreat for a family of four, conceived as a bold design of concrete and glass that’s threaded through a secluded woodland plot with a towering double-height space as its centrepiece.
A balcony creates a covered terrace on the ground floor
House of the Tall Trees: a sylvan retreat in a 'jewel of a side'
The House of the Tall Trees sits on what the architects call a ‘jewel of a site’, with just the right amount of privacy, planting and rolling contours, as well as a stream that runs through the site, marking its edge. The architects describe the project as ‘an ode to tranquility in the forest,’ and the design does everything to maximise the sense of immersion in its surroundings.
The house is threaded into the surrounding forest
The principal structure is a slender concrete and glass volume set beneath a pitched roof and ranged across two floors. The heart of the house is the soaring living room, with kitchen, dining rea and a sunken conversation pit set beneath a roof that goes right to the top of the pitch to create a sense of unbounded space volume. Glazed walls match the verticality of the surrounding tree trunks, bringing the forest into the room.
The living area includes a sunken conversation pit
The central space is flanked by bedrooms, with two on each floor pushed to the edges of the plan. This gives each ensuite room a sense of extreme privacy, with an uninterrupted view of out to the woodland, as well as a private balcony. The architects have taken extreme care with the alignment and orientation of everything from windows to cabinetry, with meticulously composed timber beams left exposed on the underside of the roof.
A galleried landing leads to the upper floor bedrooms
On each side of the main pitched roof house is an ancillary building, a carport and utility area up the slope to the north, and a small wedge-shaped concrete study area on the terrace to the south. The public areas extend into the landscape, with a courtyard to the north that contains a pool and fountain (concrete, naturally), and a terrace opening into the forest to the south. The annexe structure also has its own private terrace with Jacuzzi, an ‘intimate space [that] offers an escape within an escape, a place of retreat and relaxation.
The studio space is a separate enclosed retreat
1i Arquitectura has offices in Mexico City and San Miguel de Allende. With a broad portfolio that encompasses everything from shopping centres to apartment buildings, the firm also recently completed a private urban house in Querétaro.
The main living space reaches up to the pitch of the roof and opens onto a south-facing terrace
A courtyard and water feature separates the house from the entrance structure
A view of one of the upper floor bedrooms with its terrace
The upper floor bedrooms have their own private terrace
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