In collaboration with There There. Model by Taller Montego
Otoch reveals the layered stories of a 19th century house in Merida’s historic core. The old stone house was Carlos Germán’s life-project, and we come to Otoch to restore the existing building and continue to write a new episode in this enduring narrative.
Our intervention is conceived as a distinct layer juxtaposed to the existing colonial-style building. The stepped arch—a reinterpretation of the Mayan arch—houses a new addition. When the arched volume encounters the existing house, the resulting half-arch encloses the bathrooms. The existing kitchen becomes the meeting point of old and new, with a new stepped roof that replaces the old undulated metal roof.
A pool turns the garden into an outdoor living room, and a stepped chimney houses the mechanical room.
To make each layer legible, our intervention uses a sole material—pink pigmented concrete— molded to generate distinct spatial conditions. The resulting home becomes a unique balance between past and present, traditional and original, shadow and light, that welcomes residents and visitors to experience this living narrative.