LA MEDIANERA

Designers: Florencia Pita & Jackilin Hah Bloom

Project Team: Leila Khododad

Tetla de la Solidaridad, Mexico. Built 2018

Rural House Prototype for Infonavit's From the Territory to the Dweller

An investigation of the territory of Tetla de la Solidaridad, a rural territory bounded by industry and commerce, produced a collection of ready-made objects, cultural artifacts and ad-hoc building conditions that were used to produce a conceptual collage, or a new way to “see” and evaluate the region of Tetla. This project seeks to observe the 'Medianera' as an architectural element of inclusion rather than one of division.  If the traditional median wall functions as the delineation of the boundaries of adjacent properties, this project establishes the party wall towards the center of the property, in order to create variations and mutiple possibilities for the typology of rural housing. By detatching the party wall from the property boundary and moving it to the center, it frees and extends the space of the landscape, and expands the possibilities of interchange between multiple houses. In the typology of rural housing, the close connection between housing and landscape is accentuated by the repetition of dwellings along a street.  In the Medianera project, exterior spaces can be divided into outdoor living rooms or spaces for utility and work by a decorative, but porous concrete wall. The project also allows for additional dwelling structures to be added to the wall, where new units adhere to the wall, but are separated from the initial structure. The enclosure of the house is defined by half-barrel vault ceilings that allow for natural light, ventilation and a sense of a larger space within a small dwelling.