Casa JIMA: Querétaro’s Modern Retreat
Casa JIMA, a 2023 architectural masterpiece in Jurica, Querétaro City, Mexico, reflects modern elegance and tranquility. Designed by Anonimous, this two-story house uniquely opens to a lush central garden, nestled amidst towering trees. Featuring luxurious Santo Tomás marble and Mexican oak, it epitomizes natural beauty.
Casa JIMA seamlessly combines public and private spaces, catering to a family’s love for nature, design, and peaceful living.
About Casa JIMA
Jurica’s Architectural Evolution
In the 1960s, Legorreta Arquitectos designed Jurica in Querétaro with a rural vision. Since then, it has evolved into a verdant lung for the city, known for its tall trees. Nowadays, this area appeals to young couples seeking nature connections, a stark contrast to Mexico’s recent suburban residential trends.
The Genesis of Casa JIMA
An entrepreneur and an advertiser form the core of this family, united by their passions for cooking, nature, music, design, reading, and silence. Their two teenage daughters complete this vibrant household. Casa JIMA, tailored to their preferences, adopts a “C” shape. Consequently, it shields itself from the street while opening private and communal spaces to a garden facing south. This strategic design ensures total isolation from external disturbances.
Embracing Nature in Design
The property, measuring 15 meters (49 feet) in width and 33 meters (108 feet) in depth, integrates harmoniously with the surrounding nature. Notably, it accommodates three front ash trees and three neighboring jacarandas, exceeding 12 meters (39 feet) in height. The entrance, paying tribute to the ash trees, features two nested courtyards. These courtyards encapsulate the trees, casting evolving shadows on the façades, adding a dynamic visual element.
A Sensory Journey Inside
Inside Casa JIMA, the floors narrate a story, distinguishing various zones through unique sensations and tailored lighting. The ground floor, hosting the parking and entrance, uses cobblestone reminiscent of the street. This element seamlessly transitions into the main garden, symbolizing the passage from the external world to the sanctuary of the home.
Cohesive Design Elements
A unique enclosed space connects the guest bathroom with a cedar, creating an embracing patio. Furthermore, the house’s layout, merging horizontal and vertical pathways, unifies its sections. This design fosters a sense of disconnection from the hustle of street life as one transitions into the tranquility of the home.
In these sections, the use of black marble tiles alongside black walls and metal structures designates the house’s public areas. Conversely, the rear of the property opens up to the east and the central garden. This extension of indoor spaces onto a terrace, concealing a modest pool, maximizes outdoor enjoyment in Querétaro’s climate.
Upper-Level Design and Natural Integration
On the upper floor, the front comprises a TV room, guest room, and music studio. In contrast, the rear holds the girls’ room and the master bedroom, both oriented east to welcome the morning light. This orientation also frames the beauty of the front cedars.
Two strategically placed skylights, at the end of the journey to the rooms and above the stairs, filter light subtly. They connect the indoors to the sky and offer glimpses of cedar and jacaranda branches, enhancing the natural ambiance.
Harmonizing Interior and Exterior Design
The lush greenery and the central garden’s spaciousness amplify the vegetation within the house, on terraces, and in the guest bathroom patio. Externally, the house’s black color aims to blend into the ash trees, forming a neutral backdrop that interacts with sunlight and shadows.
The use of charred oak wood wainscoting at the ground floor base, both at the entrance and in the guest bathroom patio, adds texture and depth. This feature creates a gradual journey from the street to the house. Internally, Santo Tomás marble floors in public areas and herringbone-patterned Mexican oak parquet in the bedrooms contrast with the light tones of walls and ceilings. This contrast enhances the brightness and provides distinction. The choice of brown and beige floors differentiates communal living spaces from more private areas.
The areas lit by skylights remain black, dramatizing the interplay between space and light. This sensory design journey of Casa JIMA differentiates between transit zones and resting areas, public spaces and intimate ones. It embodies the client’s desire for street isolation while maintaining a profound connection with surrounding nature. The house’s exterior, a black canvas, captures the tree silhouettes on its surfaces, illustrating a seamless integration of architecture and nature.
Photography by Rafael Gamo
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- by Matt Watts
