Las Rocas is a complex of four houses in the northern part of Valle de Bravo known as La Peña, an elevated terrain of outcrops and endemic vegetation. The 6,400-m2 site was treated as an extension of the adjacent natural reserve, and the project seeks to respect and regenerate this environment.

A detailed and accurate site analysis was essential to determine where to position each of the houses for minimal impact on the preexisting runoffs, rocks, and vegetation. A narrow cobbled road leads to the complex’s central service area that contains a car park, storerooms, as well as key installations such as cisterns, machine rooms, and treatment plants. Users are required to leave their vehicles here and walk to the houses via paths, steps, and small plazas, immediately freeing them from the urban surroundings.

The project evolved from the study of the program: the idea was to create a dynamic system, generating different configurations to optimize compositions for each location. As a result, the four houses use the same modules and components but with unique layouts depending on their respective characteristics. 

The volumes are freely arranged in six directions (front, rear, above, below, left, right) in response to their specific situations. This simple and dynamic system blends the architecture into its natural context. These volumes do not touch each other; their separation creates voids, views, natural light and ventilation to integrate them adequately within the site. In Las Rocas, a bathroom can be a stone, a tree a part of the roof, and the terrain itself a walkway or set of steps: nature defines the design. 

Ana Paula de Alba’s custom interior designs for each house responds to the families’ specific needs, giving every space a unique character. Each home has its own essence, the result of the synergy between user, architecture, and context.