Casa Eclipse was born as a dreamlike idea in the north of the city of Mérida, Mexico. The clients commissioned a sculptural architectural space that is open to the outside, where vegetation takes center stage and evokes surreal forms. On the site, where existing trees were considered in the design, an unconventional program is distributed; the beauty of domestic architecture lies in its ability to reflect on the act of living.
The premise was to create an introverted home that invites discovery and being discovered. Starting from a main conceptual axis running from south to north, the design strategy emerges by conceiving the program through the journey. Beginning from the "zaguán," one enters the main space, "the gallery," a large double-height volume that houses social and entertainment functions. In this volume, the kitchen and the staircase connecting to the loft on the second level are located; the services are situated behind the kitchen and beneath the loft. The large window of the gallery is a circle whose center directs the compositional axis of the project, leading to another circular opening that crosses the pool. The intersection of these two geometric elements gives this home its name: Casa Eclipse. From this axis, the pool and the main covered terrace develop, with circulation areas leading to the private spaces on the sides: the covered area is a rhythmic journey through arches, "the walkway" that connects to the master bedroom. On the other side, an open circulation invites one to ascend the exterior stairs or cross a threshold to access the secondary room.
The monochromatic material palette primarily consisted of white cement flooring, smooth walls, and white-painted ironwork that serves as a canvas for the vegetation of its gardens, allowing Casa Eclipse to be filled with color from the light of the peninsular sky at dawn and dusk. This exercise in domestic experience consists of a spatial manifesto of important concepts for our architectural understanding: the journey, beauty, and discovery.
