Casa Akúun

Casa Akúun
© Yoshihiro Koitani

CASA AKÚUN

Arkham Projects

ARCHITECTS
Arkham Projects

CATEGORY
Houses

MANUFACTURERS
Cemex, MIDO, Millet

LOCATION
Merida, Mexico

PHOTOGRAPHS
Yoshihiro Koitani

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Benjamín Peniche Calafell, Jorge Duarte Torre, GCW

DESIGN TEAM
Alan May, Iván Valdez, Lorena Cervera

YEAR
2020

AREA
11065 ft²

It is a project to enjoy Yucatan, its sky, its wind and its vegetation.

Casa Akúun
© Yoshihiro Koitani
Casa Akúun
© Yoshihiro Koitani

The footprint of the house is just one fifth of the land extension, always leaving free space and vegetation as the protagonist.

Casa Akúun
© Yoshihiro Koitani
Casa Akúun
© Yoshihiro Koitani

Open in its entirety to the north and south to be able to generate comfort in terms of winds and sunlight in all spaces, and views towards the vegetation, which generates a green barrier all around the property, and as a result, a absolute privacy for users in each space, at all times.

Casa Akúun, or in Spanish “casa Álamo”, is a house of almost seventy meters in length, which is virtually divided by a tree of this species, located in a patio that is trapped between the public and private areas of the house.

Casa Akúun
© Yoshihiro Koitani
Casa Akúun
© Yoshihiro Koitani
Casa Akúun
© Yoshihiro Koitani

Part of the intention of the house is to be able to join the interior with the exterior, forgetting barriers and ensuring that it can be walked from side to side with total freedom.

The property has the characteristic of adjoining three roads, which allowed the project to have two completely opposite accesses, both in location and experience of use.

Casa Akúun
© Yoshihiro Koitani
Casa Akúun
© Yoshihiro Koitani

The first is the day-to-day, where the garage is located, as well as the access to the private areas of the house, where the route is in the south-west part of the house, a space surrounded by vegetation from every angle, where a green passage welcomes those who inhabit it, hugging them, leaving the city behind.

The second access is the social one, from the north-eastern part, which also has a route through pre-existing vegetation, but in more open spaces, which allows the possibility of observing the house from afar;

Casa Akúun
© Yoshihiro Koitani
Casa Akúun
© Yoshihiro Koitani

this route ends with a large Pich (Guanacaste tree) located next to the access esplanade, the outer anteroom of the social space.


Casa Akúun
Planta Baja
Casa Akúun
Planta Alta


Casa Akúun
Longitudinal Section
Casa Akúun
Cross Section