This house came about through re-cycling an old, tall, single story house with gardens, in a traditional district of squares and streets and overlooked by a beautiful old Mudejar chapel. The area had been preserved thanks to its narrow plots which make it difficult to put up new buildings, but it was left cut off from the center of the city by the streets which were laid out during the 1971 Pan- American games in order to “modernize” the city.

Now the house combines traditional styling with both the modern and the retro style of the houses that surround it. Part of the original bay has been preserved but without the moldings of the facades from the beginnings of the twentieth century and you can still see the threshold in the new garage and entrance. A massive column divides it into two vertical spaces, in the pre-modern style, and hints at the abundance and excesses of the interior. Only one window was restored but the hallways, corridors and courtyards were retained. In addition, balconies were created, enclosed by sloping roofs, half covered and half walled, which allowed the construction of three attics but which prompted the neighbors to complain.

Only a few basic materials were used, and a simple construction method. The old adobe walls were strengthened, which together with the new cement block walls, support the mezzanine levels
and balconies of wood and concrete and the roofs and rafters covered with tiles set in cement.

Many of the existing walls have been repaired using a retaining net, preserving their whiteness, while the new parts show off their materials in their natural state, such as the rectangular cement tiles which are placed in a regular, repeated pattern, and which constitute the only decoration. Thus the old and the new are immediately combined either directly or in reflection in the passage
o the sun, the rain or the wind, creating sensations, memories, enchantment and surprises as the murmuring of the bubbling waters bring a freshness and peace, as stated by Barragán. Excitement and joy in living for the moment, enjoying the climate and the passage of time in the tropics, enjoying days that are at once the same and unexpectedly different.

Decisions that influenced the whole project were taken at the blueprint stage, repeating and improving solutions and taking advantage of the surprises that emerged. Occupying that house in its early stages helped to tune the design for the rest, but it was only possible to produce the final plans once the house was finished.

The hallway of the first courtyard or entrance hall is small with a high ceiling and a pier; from here you can catch a glimpse of the second courtyard through a screen, which provides access to the house itself to the “distinguished guest” (the first was Rogelio Salmona) or utters words of welcome. The turret that provides illumination to the bathroom tower draws the gaze up to the sky. This house within a house (which in the blueprints was destined to be a photographic studio) has a balcony over looking the street and an intimate balcony which provides views over the city and the mountains beyond; this balcony over the entrance gives access to the second balcony through another screen.

The long corridor that passes right through the house, with its thickset columns continues on to the second courtyard, or the “yellow guayacán” (but nobody uses this name), which has a small pool. Canaries, parakeets and parrots native to the neighborhood sing here. A spiral staircase once again draws the gaze skywards and to the second balcony level which, as well as overlooking the courtyard, also provides a look out point and has a pergola with hammocks and a table which is served by a dumbwaiter from the service courtyard; this gives on to the studio.

The living room, with its high ceiling to reduce the effect of the heat and enhance the views, opens onto the fourth courtyard, or “the pond”, and adjoins the dining room which itself gives on to the kitchen, the clothes drying area and the maid’s room (which became the San Alejo room). The pool is surrounded by a dividing wall, which rises from the water, and the corridor, which can accommodate a hammock and provides access to the fifth courtyard by way of a second vestibule. With only the sky overhead and decorated with ceramic tiles depicting water lilies, reeds, pigeons, fish (there are also real fish to be caught) and reflections, lights, shadows, sounds and unexpected breezes, this is at the very center of the house.

“Mara’s room” (who never actually slept there) is lit from the corridor, as of old, and the small doors in its floor to ceiling windows open up, so that the room is separated from the pool by just a lattice screen. The master bedroom and its en suite bathroom looks out onto the fifth courtyard, which is also illuminated at zenith; its other window, which looks onto the wall, has small opening doors offering different views and the experience of the wind.

The fifth courtyard, or “the swimming pool”, occupies what was once the old solarium. Here are palms growing which support hammocks and there is also a small balcony, the fourth, with a dog kennel. A staircase facing you as you enter the water takes you for the third time up towards the sky, and to the third balcony, or “the orchard”. Forming a balcony over the pool, this is the favorite spot for the wild cats who know the real purpose of the awning that protects the master bedroom from the sun and completes the third of the two story, roofed transverse naves; joined by the length of the single story building with balconies, this completes the structure of the house.