A Wooden Annex by Pedro&Juana extends an existing lakeside house in Valle de Bravo with a compact timber addition and a decisive act in section: a roof opening that becomes a stair tunnel. The intervention stitches old and new across the slope with a brick stair, a covered patio that supports a reconfigured kitchen, and a pair of wood-lined rooms linked by an interior patio. The project reorients the dwelling toward its vegetated backside, introduces a secondary entrance, and uses material contrast between masonry and wood to clarify circulation, enclosure, and outdoor rooms.
A Wooden Annex Technical Information
- Architects: Pedro&Juana
- Location: Valle de Bravo, State of Mexico, Mexico
- Gross Area: 102 m2 | 1,098 Sq. Ft.
- Project Years: 2022 – 2024
- Photographs: © Ramiro Chaves, Diego Manzano
A staircase breaks through the roof and continues the house upward, turning the dwelling toward its once-overlooked backside to open new relationships with the surrounding vegetation.
– Pedro&Juana
Stair as Spatial Engine: Extending Circulation into Landscape
The project begins by cutting a precise void in the existing roof to form a stair tunnel that prolongs the original stair sequence. This vertical incision consolidates movement through the house, tying upper living spaces to the annex and service areas below without expanding laterally across the site. The stair is both conduit and device, bringing daylight deep into the core, channeling air between levels, stabilizing temperature, and drawing the landscape into the building’s section.
A wide brick stair navigates the slope, serving as the primary organizing element of the addition. Its mass and thermal inertia contrast with the lighter timber volume above, marking the transition from the earthbound tunnel to inhabitable rooms. The run terminates in a covered patio that doubles as a working extension to the reconfigured kitchen. This stair–tunnel–patio sequence defines the project’s spatial rhythm, using circulation to structure program, modulate microclimate, and frame social use.
Reorienting the House: Activating the “Back” and the Slope
By engaging the mountainside rather than projecting outward toward the lake, the annex turns the house to face its back and the dense vegetation that climbs the slope. This reorientation introduces a secondary entrance, reorganizing daily routines and service access. The move acknowledges the steep topography as the project’s primary datum, reading the hillside as a resource for new views, shaded outdoor rooms, and short, efficient connections.
The addition is carved into the terrain, extending the original stepped composition without competing with it. Instead of broadening the footprint, the intervention builds a vertical network of thresholds that distribute access through sections. The new sequence quietly recalibrates how the house operates day to day, with deliveries, maintenance, and kitchen overflow absorbed by the covered patio and lower service areas while private rooms remain sheltered higher on the slope.
Timber Tectonics: Material Strategy and Dialogue with Masonry
Wood is used as the primary structural and finishing material for the annex. On a steep site, a lighter assembly limits excavation and simplifies erection within tight clearances, reducing disruption to the terrain and vegetation. The timber envelope provides a warm interior climate and a calibrated acoustic profile, while its panelization supports future adaptation or selective replacement as needs evolve.
The timber volume converses with the existing brick and masonry rather than mimicking it. Material contrast clarifies program: masonry anchors the stair and tunnel as infrastructural circulation, timber defines enclosed living spaces, and planting thickens the edges where built form meets slope. Detailing is carried across scales, from cladding junctions to built-in furniture. This continuity tempers the sensory shift from the cooler, echoing stair tunnel to the quieter, more tactile interiors, creating a legible gradient from ground to room.
Domestic Flexibility and Outdoor Rooms
The annex combines a bedroom, two bathrooms, and a versatile kitchen–studio–bedroom that can switch roles as occupancy changes. Doors, storage, and furniture are integrated to manage this elasticity without resorting to temporary partitions. The plan remains compact yet adaptable, with services clustered to free perimeter walls for light, views, and cross ventilation.
An interior patio links the two principal rooms and acts as a small climatic moderator, collecting shade and reflected light while enabling privacy within a tight footprint. Adjacent to the reconfigured kitchen, the covered patio at the stair landing handles overflow cooking, dining, and maintenance tasks. Together with the secondary entrance and the stair tunnel, these layers establish a gradient of thresholds that calibrates privacy, sound, and exposure to the lakeside and wooded context typical of Valle de Bravo’s temperate highland climate.
About Pedro&Juana
Pedro&Juana is a Mexico City–based architecture and design studio founded in 2011 by Mecky Reuss and Ana Paula Ruiz Galindo. Known for their playful and contextually sensitive projects, they embrace a multidisciplinary approach that blends architecture, interior design, and art. Their work often explores material reuse, sensory engagement, and collaborative practices, with a strong focus on connecting spaces to their environmental and cultural contexts.
Credits and Additional Notes
- Architects: Pedro&Juana (Mecky Reuss, Ana Paula Ruiz Galindo)
- Client: Private commission
- Project Team: Mariel De Los Santos Kuri, Diego Manzano, Ana Lorena Montemayor Amaya, Ornella Zacarías
- Construction company: TAF, Miguel Hierro, Javier Limas
- Photographic documentation: Ramiro Chaves, Diego Manzano
- Research references or publications: La Liga de la Madera (Pedro&Juana’s wood construction initiative)
