Header: Ana Cecilia Garza Villarreal
La Villa de Santiago is a colonial town located 37 kilometres from the city of Monterrey that every week receives a large number of visitors, who go to enjoy the different natural scenarios of that part of the Sierra Madre Oriental. Rivers, waterfalls and forests offer breathtaking views and an array of activities, such as canyoning, climbing and trekking.
It is not uncommon for people to own weekend residences and cottages here, as it is the perfect place to unwind after a busy week or enjoy the fresh air of the mountains in summer. Casa Santiago is, then, one of many, but its modern design by César Guerrero and Ana Cecilia Garza, from S-AR studio, combined with the premium views over the nearby mountains, makes it unique.
Local stones and covered patios
From the outside, the house has a closed façade where only the doors stand out. Built with local stone, it can pass fairly unnoticed, giving continuity to the rural look of the site as large walls of stone and adobe remain intact from past centuries. On the inside, the layout is defined by two main areas, both open and fresh, with large windows and patios.
The private area is protected from the street by a large stone wall and from the social zones by a metallic lattice with views to the great central patio. The public is open and more connected to the garden of the house, enjoying a covered terrace that is perfect to relax alongside a pool or hosting a dinner party with delicious grilled food.
Circulation through the house revolves around a spiral staircase and a ramp, both of which reach the roof terrace from different points in the layout. From there, the nearby mountains are fully visible, making the terrace a place to stop and look out over the landscape.
Materials complementing the cement
The house is built around a reinforced concrete structure, with walls and corbels finished in different ways to show how the material was cast and worked. The same concrete is used for the floors and roof, so the house feels like a single, solid volume, broken only by one steel column and by the glass enclosures and open patios. Inside, the material palette alternates between concrete, stone, wood, steel and ceramics. These surfaces catch the light in different ways over the course of the day, bringing out changes in texture, lines, grids and planes.
Casa Santiago’s design intentionally creates an unceasing movement between interior and exterior, between house and landscape, and between user and the surroundings.
