Alejandro Rangel Hidalgo, marked the lead in the art and crafts of Colima. The artist enjoyed living for most of his years in the Nogueras hacienda, which previously operated for sugar production and was finally acquired by his family in the 40's. Espacio Kaab honors this venue and the impact of the craftsmanship itself. The understanding of the design ranges from directing views towards the property as a poetic gesture of the location's honor and all the way into rescuing techniques and materials formerly used in this complex.
Di Frenna arquitectos
Nombre de contacto: Matia Di Frenna Müller.
Dirección: Tercer Anillo Periférico #137, Plaza Aria Local 5, Residencial Esmeralda Nte., 28017 Colima, Col.
Teléfono: (312) 223 3197
Correo electrónico: direccion@difrennaarquitectos.com
Nombre de contacto: Matia Di Frenna Müller.
Dirección: Tercer Anillo Periférico #137, Plaza Aria Local 5, Residencial Esmeralda Nte., 28017 Colima, Col.
Teléfono: (312) 223 3197
Correo electrónico: direccion@difrennaarquitectos.com
The environment on the ground enchants as it becomes a magical moment, a pause enriched with dry, arid vegetation, cacti, stones and earth that makes one feel in a bubble that embraces and contrasts with the rest of the site's colorful floral palette. Wandering the area means entering into a unique ecosystem. Spring trees, parotas, tamarinds, and a magnificent view of the La Barragana river leading you to feel the characteristic sub-humid climate while exploring the Nogueras hacienda with its original and distinctive chapel and fireplace.
Separating the architectural program is the spatial solution that the land immediately requested. Respecting the topography, adapting and blending is the way in which the context receives, surrounds the residence, and unconsciously determines the heart of the project; a gigantic organ cactus surrounded by tamarind trees, the heritage of the lot itself. In exchange, it gives the user: patios, contained gardens and unique views of the river and the canyon that, with the variety of proposed heights, arouse different sensations as one walks through the house.
The main concept was accomplishing spaces where the boundaries between inside or outside blur, where the ranges and colors of the context integrate into the shades of the building, where the inhabitants can walk barefoot through the premeditated choice of the same natural stone floor without distinguishing whether they’ve come out or into the house and delight in the phenomenology that materiality awakens in their five senses.
Achieving a perception of the house as a volume that extruded from the ground and soil, maintaining raw, imperceptible tones, respectful of the terrain, gave rise to a selection of material formed in the location of Comala. Rammed walls, which use the antique technique of compacted earth, are accents that give specific spaces of the project's nature.
The decision of electing palm and river stone, carrizo ceilings, and implementing blacksmithing in the necessary elements symbolize a connection that transcends the land and the craftsmanship promoted by Rangel; coupling to new techniques and innovative structural solutions. Consequently, alluding to the craftsman, the experience of living in this house is enriched by the honesty of the natural state in the materials.
The decision of electing palm and river stone, carrizo ceilings, and implementing blacksmithing in the necessary elements symbolize a connection that transcends the land and the craftsmanship promoted by Rangel; coupling to new techniques and innovative structural solutions. Consequently, alluding to the craftsman, the experience of living in this house is enriched by the honesty of the natural state in the materials.
It is essential to refer to the retaining walls, necessary for the harmonization between the modules and the land; these marked and heavy axes provided nooks and spaces for contemplation along the route of the house. In this way, the project reveals the typical Mexican house; benefiting from patios, surprises, and small pauses that unify with references to an evident Japanese architecture; integrating beams that move with an impeccable rhythm through the different volumes of the house and that contribute to the intention of generating open spaces with perspectives that are born from the interior of the construction.
The main premises of the project were perpetual during all its stages of evolution, and in this way they were taken to every corner, to every element from the distribution and placement of the volumes to the interior design that decorates to give the final touch to the house.
Furniture that pleases with textures and smells using stones and wood in their closest state of purity, accompanied by indirect and perfectly selected lighting, insist on the identity that distinguishes the most recent neighbor of the Nogueras hacienda.
Furniture that pleases with textures and smells using stones and wood in their closest state of purity, accompanied by indirect and perfectly selected lighting, insist on the identity that distinguishes the most recent neighbor of the Nogueras hacienda.
Designing in a site filled with so much history, mysticism, cultural impact and architectural heritage, such as the adjacent area to the Hacienda Nogueras in Comala, was the challenge that the Di Frenna architects studio faced and fell in love with.
Alejandro Rangel Hidalgo, marked the lead in art and crafts of Colima. The artist was the main resident of the hacienda, previously used for sugar production and serving as a museum and ecological center today. Our most recent project Espacio Kaab honors this venue and the impact that the technique of the creator himself kept.
The topography made it possible to adapt and fit into the context, enclosing the residence and managing to blur the boundary between the exterior and the interior; where the different volumes were able to disperse without losing a connection between them, and where the construction camouflage surrounded by the shades that characterize the variety of flora and natural elements that envelop it.
This is one of the projects with the greatest impact not only for the studio, but also for the community in Comala, who got involved providing their ancestral knowledge through artisanal techniques developed by Rangel himself in his time. In this way, the blacksmithing or creating reed ceilings are elements that generate an identity of its own in the residence itself, discreet but perceptible, tangible but subliminal.
Alejandro Rangel Hidalgo, marked the lead in art and crafts of Colima. The artist was the main resident of the hacienda, previously used for sugar production and serving as a museum and ecological center today. Our most recent project Espacio Kaab honors this venue and the impact that the technique of the creator himself kept.
The topography made it possible to adapt and fit into the context, enclosing the residence and managing to blur the boundary between the exterior and the interior; where the different volumes were able to disperse without losing a connection between them, and where the construction camouflage surrounded by the shades that characterize the variety of flora and natural elements that envelop it.
This is one of the projects with the greatest impact not only for the studio, but also for the community in Comala, who got involved providing their ancestral knowledge through artisanal techniques developed by Rangel himself in his time. In this way, the blacksmithing or creating reed ceilings are elements that generate an identity of its own in the residence itself, discreet but perceptible, tangible but subliminal.
