Solid and void: a masterly exercise in interpenetration of spaces allied with a sensuous understanding of solid materiality.

The F-2 house near Mexico City, by Adria + Broid + Rojkind, is L-shaped and fitted into the right angle of a wedge-shaped site. It is shielded from neighbouring eyes by garden walls of rough basalt and concrete and looks over a lightly wooded valley.

If there is one dominant element in the composition of this house, it is the wall. The very solidity of walls here points up the fluidity of space, which does seem more like water flowing through and around dense obstructions. Thick planes of basalt or concrete are sliced open to reveal a fragile glass kernel -- cut out to frame a view, or suspended, like a heavy curtain, short of the floor to control light and reflection off a rich expanse of polished wood.

The architectural language and forms of this scholarly house/are essentially Modernist. Acknowledgements of the early exponents exist in the cantilevered travertine terrace at the entrance, the oversailing roof and slender free-standing columns, floating horizontals and the geometry of the most southerly facade, with its projecting and receding elements. But the predominance and thickness of the sheltering walls recalls the adobe. Such references, however, are delicately contrived: dark basalt walls around the entrance are separated from the floating roof by a narrow clerestory, internally by a gap; and as you move away from the boundaries into the heart of the site, basalt gives way to light-reflective fair-faced concrete. Mexican sun is fierce, and the robust compositions of textures and forms, like those of the desert, create strong plays of light and shadow. Glass-enclosed interiors pulled back from concrete walls and roof edges remind you, when seen side on, of cave slots in rock.

The house, which settles into the north-south slope, consists of a single-storey wing running across the grain of the site, from garage and entrance on the east. Containing the kitchen and dining room, the wing penetrates the second three-storey wing at the middle level, and leads to the main living quarters. Above are bedrooms, and below, as the ground falls away, are a games room and library.

Floored with warm polished wood, spaces are generous and interconnect visually through slots cut in dividing walls. A library bookcase of African wenge is double-height, rising through the floor to become a living room bookcase screening the room from the study. Peripheries have been given great attention, and in places are made dramatic. To the south, the house looks onto the leafy garden and woods; to the north, the kitchen and dining room are enclosed by sliding glass doors onto a small private terrace and pool, where diffused light and reflection play over a rough basalt wall. To the west is a glass-roofed chasm between concrete walls rising the height of the building and enclosing a long flight of stairs to each level. Here and there, holes cut into the east wall open up the interiors to the cool light of the chasm and provide the occasional oblique glimpse into rooms from the staircase.

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Architect

Adria + Brold + Rojkind

Project architects

Miquel Adria, Isaac Broid, Michel Rojkind, Benjamin campos. Andres Altesor, Agustin Pereyra, Miguel del Rio, Hernan Cuadra, Pauline Goycoolea

Photographs

Undine Prohl

1

Entrance from east through basalt wall.

2

South front with its play of planes and carefully juxtaposed solid and void. Lowest floor is for games and library.

3

Single-storey wing penetrates three-level main block

4

... with Junction celebrated by deck.

5

Main sitting room.

6

Kitchen and dining room.

7

The great slot.

8

Unexpected openings focus light and views of chasm.