Private home on Calle 68, Colonia Centro, Mérida
This old home – nicknamed "La Cochera" since an old carriage entrance to a garage/stable was and remains a prominent aspect of the property – presented special challenges like so many in Mérida’s Centro Histórico.
During its century-and-a-half of life, the house had been divided in half, then further subdivided into a warren of apartments and rooms rented to working class men. The entire center section of the old home had been virtually destroyed by the construction of a second floor (achieved by slicing the ceiling height in half) with a steep stairway leading to tiny bedrooms. The result was that the original colonial rooms at front and back were interrupted and separated by this more recent and ill-planned addition – an unfortunate schizophrenia.
As frequently happens with Worldstudio International projects, the challenge was embraced as an opportunity. The central addition was completely demolished, and a new, modernist section was inserted. The new section includes an up-to-date kitchen, a guest bath/powder room, and a pantry. A dramatic slanting greenhouse-type roof maintains an indoor/outdoor feeling, opens up a space that might otherwise have felt cramped and serves as a unifying bridge between the two older sections of the house.
The old cochera was preserved, half of it now serving as a guest bedroom that looks onto a charming courtyard. The master suite features a dramatic split glass archway that provides views both into the master bath and the garden terrace. A sunken tub, pocket garden and columnar storage towers are unique touches that serve to visually enlarge the narrow space of the master bath. And the large infinity pool – visible when one first enters the home – features a broad cascade that serves as a charming water feature on the terrace.
