The MF Pavilion arises from the need for an independent area adjacent to an existing home, to foster recreation and social gatherings, taking into consideration a series of specific guidelines. Each one of these guidelines contributes to the pavilion’s tectonic definition. Aspect 1: Minimum intervention. The client’s first request was minimum impact on the property’s existing green areas. Therefore, it was determined to intervene in an area, which previously housed a basketball court adjacent to the residence and which has direct access to the street.

Aspect 2: Independence. The new construction must operate completely independent from the house. Hence, the construction of a PAVILION, since it involves building a new structure rather than an extension or supplement, achieving an autonomous structure productively related with an existing structure (the house) regarding acknowledgement (two different architectures), as well as the programmatic complementarity (benefiting both structures). At the same time, this independence avoids sounds bouncing back and forth between the pavilion and the house.

Aspect 3: Unity. The client clearly instructed that the height of the pavilion should not surpass the dining room’s parapet, which would otherwise block the view of the majestic Sierra Madre Mountain. This factor determines the maximum intervention height. Therefore, to comply with such height specifications, the pavilion shall function as a semi-basement. To this effect, the pavilion’s layout responds to geometry resulting between the existing house and the property’s perimeter, shaping an irregular figure that defines operation in connection to its immediate context.

Aspect 4: Relation with Nature. Nature plays a very important role in the pavilion’s design, since from the beginning the client expressed its desire to protect and preserve an oak tree located right in the center of the selected area. Therefore, it was decided to “build” around and in relation to this tree, framing it from the outside and achieving visual contact from the inside. In addition, access to the pavilion is parallel to the property’s perimeter and the pavilion’s limits, and it is free from any physical or visual obstruction, providing direct access from the street to the rest of the house’s gardens without the need to enter and go through the pavilion.

Likewise, this connection leading to the courtyard garden, through an open stairway enveloped by exposed concrete walls with an apparent inclination takes us to a nestled terrace that has access to the main courtyard through a stepped jardinière, which also works as an “amphitheater” to enter the rest of the property. Lastly and because of the determined foundation levels, there is a contemplative garden placed over the pavilion’s roof which serves as an extension of the existing garden, highlighting the appearance and view from the house’s colossal windows and allowing it to serve as a natural border framing the Sierra Madre Mountain.

Aspect 5: Acknowledgement. The existing contemporary house has defined lines and vertices. To this effect, the pavilion’s tectonics together with its sight elevation, distinguishes it from the existing construction, establishing recognition through formal and material differentiations between the two architectures. The pavilion’s design makes emphasis over the condition of the parameters that define it, such as the site (perimeter) and its natural context (connection towards the backyard and preservation of the oak tree).

As to operation, the pavilion works as an extension to the house, but as per formality, the pavilion becomes an element that serves as the house’s distinction piece, in the same way a diamond or precious stone to a ring. Aspect 6: Materiality. The pavilion, perceived as a precious stone, was always envisioned under the condition of using natural and pure materials. Therefore, the decision to use exposed concrete, as the main material was a determining factor since the finish and texture of the same expresses it high purity and quality.

Likewise, the concrete’s malleability allowed us to portray its essence, working and defying gravity as can be observed by the inclined access wall or the irregular roof supported by 4 asymmetrical columns nestling the terrace subsequent to the pavilion. The same criteria was used in the selection of all of the materials, both for the exterior and interior areas, always seeking to achieve the utmost eloquence and impact on the users.