A home that seems to float among the branches, where surprising volumes open up into unexpected paths and contrasting material surfaces welcome its inhabitants in an embrace of calm, wonder, and enchantment.
In the high-altitude forests, fog envelops everything, dissolving boundaries and lending every discovery an aura of mystery. Among the pine trunks, which stand like silent sentinels, an unexpected presence emerges: a seemingly suspended house, a refuge that seems to come to life among branches and leaves, like those treehouses that populate childhood dreams, but narrated with the rigor and sensitivity of contemporary architecture.
We are in Mineral del Monte, in the Hidalgo region of Mexico, an ancient mining town nestled at over 2,700 meters above sea level, where nature imposes its rhythms and the mountainside becomes a challenge and an opportunity for design. The land chosen by Lore and Carlos, the owners, is a steep slope, framed by thick woods, a place that does not allow for easy spaces, but suggests a construction that immerses and blends with the surrounding environment.
The large openings of Casa Oruç frame the forest, bringing the landscape into everyday life.
Saavedra Arquitectos faced this challenge, designing a 250 m2 home on two staggered levels that follow the natural slope without forcing it. Access is from the highest point of the land, and a staircase leads to the heart of the house. The residence features a large living room with an open-plan kitchen and a panoramic terrace, two bedrooms each with a private bathroom, and, in the more intimate area, another living room with a third bedroom and en suite bathroom, as well as an outdoor garage for two cars.
Nestled into the steep slope of the forest, the house is spread over staggered levels connected by an internal staircase that accompanies the path between the spaces.
The journey is a material narrative that accompanies those who enter: reinforced concrete alternates in hues and textures, between rough surfaces and grooved blocks, while wood envelops the floors and walls, bringing warmth and continuity. Walking up the first ramp, an external frame invites you to perceive the threshold as a fluid space, where inside and outside merge. The corridor opens under an inverted double-pitched slab, suspended between the branches, from which a window frames the living room like a painting.
Textured surfaces and refined details define the interiors, where every finish participates in a silent dialogue with the landscape.
L’interno si svela in un grande open space che si trasforma senza soluzione di continuità da zona pranzo a cucina e salotto, estendendosi verso una terrazza affacciata a sud che moltiplica la percezione dello spazio e dell’orizzonte. The floor extends with a large overhang of over seven meters, offering this area, and the two bedrooms with private bathrooms, rarefied light and views, as if floating between the sky and the forest. The master suite is a separate retreat, with an additional living room and en suite bathroom, complete with a private balcony.
Il living open space è caratterizzato da tonalità scure e un’atmosfera avvolgente, dove luce e volumi definiscono uno spazio intimo e raccolto.
The kitchen and dining area is bathed in light, with furnishings and spaces designed to accommodate conviviality and daily comfort.
The chosen materials—concrete, steel, and wood—converse with the surrounding nature: the solidity and rigor of the structures meet the softness of the wood, creating a balance between the hardness of stone and metal and the lightness of air. The furnishings also follow this dynamic: few and select, dark or dusty colors and alternating impalpable textures, vintage touches and custom details. The sloping and inverted roofs collect rainwater and channel it into a cistern, transforming the house into a living organism, an integral part of the ecosystem.
The wood of the surfaces dialogues with the concrete of the ceilings and the steel of the fixtures, a play of materials that runs throughout the house, including the bedrooms.
Lore and Carlos imagined this place as a green retreat capable of welcoming guests and friends, a collection of interconnected and open spaces, where the pleasure of sharing blends with the quiet of the forest. What began as a refuge for two is enriched by the presence of Oruç, the family dog (who gives the property its name), transforming it into a home for three and for the entire extended family.
The room, covered in wood, opens directly onto the forest, transforming the view of the woods into an integral part of the sleeping space.
Casa Oruç tells a story of courage and harmony, of a project that doesn’t impose itself but lets itself be discovered, a journey through materials, light, and shadow, seemingly floating between the earth and the branches of the trees. A house that exists to the extent that nature lets it, a dream built among the pines, where every step is an encounter with the silence and wild beauty of the landscape.
Project by Saavedra Arquitectos – saavedraarquitectos.com
Photo © Onnis Luque
The house nestles into the steep slopes of the Mineral del Monte forests, blending in with the surrounding forest and following the natural curves of the land.
Main floor plan of Casa Oruç © Saavedra Arquitectos
Floor plan of the most intimate level, with living room and bedroom with bathroom © Saavedra Arquitectos
Ground floor plan with garage and stairs to the entrance © Saavedra Arquitectos
In copertina, Casa Oruç: una dimora tra gli alberi, un rifugio di raffinata progettazione.
