The Hill in Front of the Glen Morelia, Mexico by HW Studio

Photography by Dane Alonso.

Hw Studio The Hill In Front Of The Glen Morelia Mexico Underground Architecture Photo Dane Alonso Yellowtrace 05

Hw Studio The Hill In Front Of The Glen Morelia Mexico Underground Architecture Photo Dane Alonso Yellowtrace 06

Photography by Dane Alonso.

Photography by Cesar Bejar.

Deep in the forests of Morelia, central Mexico, rests a home that seems like it could have been magicked to life by a hobbit. It has all the trappings of a hobbit house, camouflaging into the hillside, mirroring the knolls and dells. Unassuming. Barely there. Recognisable only to those who stop long enough to notice it.

“This project generates a continuity in the beautiful living surface around the land, forming a new hill in a place already surrounded by many,” say Rogelio Vallejo Bores and Oscar Didier Ascencio Castro of Mexico-based HW Studio of the 250-square-metre marvel, adding, “The architecture is like an accent on the words of a poem, like a comma or a question mark, but never the actual poem itself. The poem is already written by the pines, the oaks, the sweet acacia, the fireflies, the road, the fence, the neighbour’s water well, the earth, the orchard, and the nightingale.”

Hw Studio The Hill In Front Of The Glen Morelia Mexico Underground Architecture Photo Cesar Bejar Yellowtrace 11

Hw Studio The Hill In Front Of The Glen Morelia Mexico Underground Architecture Photo Cesar Bejar Yellowtrace 15

Photography by Cesar Bejar.

To the casual observer, the only thing perceptible at the ground level is a pair of unfussy concrete walls that cut through the earth. But within lies a pathway that unfurls the many magical layers of the home—a towering tree, a flight of steps, the front door—each successive element farther inside than the one before it.

“The path is wide enough to walk comfortably alone, yet narrow enough to discourage accompaniment. Visitors are cast into a pilgrimage of solitude,” observes Rogelio.

At the front door, the passageway parlays into a corridor which divides the home in half—the home’s three bedrooms on one side, the living room, dining room and kitchen on the other. “Public areas on the left side of the house are completely exposed to the wooded ravine, while the right side features a courtyard with a view to the treetops and the sky,” aver the architects.

Photography by Cesar Bejar.

The living room is a modern-day Aladdin’s cave. Only, the treasure here is the structure itself, its concrete vaulted ceiling and earth-sunken form melding into the hills around it. The sweeping vault extends to overarch the dining realm, sitting over the collective space, as if in a protective embrace. The symbolism is deep-seated for the architects, evoking childhood memories of snuggling beneath a blanket. “Pulling a bedsheet over ourselves is a very elemental act that alludes to the most basic part of the self; a bed sheet hides, protects, wraps, and creates a space beneath it that is so safe and intimate as to keep away any spirit, ghost, or demon that may be surrounding the room,” they explain.

Low-slung the home may be, but there’s plenty of light to go around. Full-height glass walls allow the interior and exterior to coalesce fluidly, urging the sunlight to fall across the spaces like a resplendent veil. The material palette is spare, spartan even, with concrete, wood and steel all stripped down to their bare minimum avatar. “It was very important for the client to preserve the rough and primitive atmosphere of being in the mountains,” conclude Rogelio and Oscar.