This outdoor apartment project called “Villa Jardín” is located on Mexico City’s west side, occupying the lower level of a building. Designed by ASP Arquitectura Sergio Portillo, the architecture firm is based in Mexico City and founded in 2014. In this project, the architects focus on contemporary practice of architecture and urbanism and approach the context and the environment by using only high-tech materials and quality regional products.

The southwest houses a private garden made of wood construction material that can make the garden feel more like a contemplative space instead of a confined high-rise terrace. The modern architectural outdoor space features three themes associated with mother nature: The first; shows a pool of water that symbolises the purification of the access space, while endowing the access with movement and sound. The second; consists of a garden of energy stones and the third; is a vegetable garden, designed to blend the gully’s natural vegetation with the terraces.

ASP Arquitectura Sergio Portillo had purposely incorporated elements into the design process to produce a series of specific, outdoor spaces whose function is directly related to the apartment’s indoor activity. The outdoor section is designed like a Garden Box to offer home owners a secluded respite or on this sheltered patio, allows the house to be opened to the breeze where people can gather to mingle and generate meaningful dialogues, just as it would a dialogue between the newly constructed building and its environment in the form of landscape and unifying indoors with outdoors.

The northeast holds two terraces joined by a pergola; the first features a living hall and a dining area. The vertical garden is built of wooden boxes reclaimed from the shoring system used in the construction. The second terrace rests on a lower overhang to exude a sense of deep connection with the landscape. There’s a staircase underneath the structure that connects the Garden Box to the larger living hall.

This open module is designed for an intimate interaction between the spectator and the garden, leading one from the main hall to the bedrooms, the TV room and kitchen. According to the ASP Arquitectura Sergio Portillo, the indoor section are designed to have a linear axis. This gives unobstructed access to the rooms, through the common and semi-private and private areas. Likewise, “the outdoor layout follows a parallel design; a wall runs along the axis that encloses and divides the areas based on the required activity.”