Dosorozco Builds 150-Square-Metre Casa Sima Around Existing Trees

Architecture studio Dosorozco has completed Casa Sima, a 150-square-metre home in the Sierra de Tapalpa forest in Jalisco, Mexico, built without removing a single existing tree.

The dwelling sits on a sloping site with panoramic views towards distant mountains. Dosorozco clad it in blackened timber, stone and pale plaster, a palette chosen to echo the textures and tones of the surrounding forest.

The studio's decision to avoid excavation and tree removal shaped the entire design. It informed the home's elongated plan and the placement of its blocky volumes, which align with the contours of an existing clearing.

What did the trees determine?

"Casa Sima started with something very simple, the place already had its own order before we arrived," the studio's creative director Guillermo R Orozco told Dezeen.

"One of the first decisions we made was that no existing trees would be removed. That sounds simple, but it affected almost every decision that came after," he explained.

He continued: "Their position affects the geometry of the house, the views, the shadows, the terraces and even the points where the building can touch the ground."

How does the house meet the forest?

Casa Sima is accessed via a stepped walkway elevated above the forest floor. The walkway runs from the base of the sloping site up to the home's rectilinear volumes perched at the top.

At the threshold, Orozco created what he calls an "elevated courtyard": a timber wall supported by a steel frame, positioned above the walkway. The timber was finished with a local technique that uses oil and heat to weatherproof the surface, producing a rough, blackened finish intended to blend with the surrounding trees.

"There is a brief moment there where you are not really outside anymore, but you are not inside either," Orozco explained.

"You become aware of the ground below you, the structure around and above you, and the trees beyond it," he continued.

"It is suspended above the terrain, framed by the structure and open to the forest, so it works almost like a vestibule without ever becoming a conventional room."

How is the interior organised?

The living spaces occupy two intersecting, rectilinear volumes:

• the ground floor holds a large living, dining and kitchen space flanked by two exposed stone walls;
• fully-glazed walls open onto two terraces — one at ground level to the south, one elevated to the north;
• a study and bathroom also sit on the ground floor;
• above, a central cubic volume contains two bedrooms lined in timber and plaster, both with access to rooftop terraces.

Dark timber ceilings complement the visible stonework.

"The house is compact, but it doesn't really feel compact when you are inside it," said Orozco.

"The rotation between floors, the terraces, the diagonal views and the constant relationship with the exterior make the spaces feel much more open," he added.

What does this change for Mexican residential design?

The project shows how a strict site constraint — building around every existing tree — can generate architecture rather than limit it. Casa Sima joins a run of recently featured Mexican homes, including a lime-rendered house beside a wooded hillside in Cristóbal de las Casas by local studio Colar, and a holiday home in Valle de Bravo by Chain + Siman comprising a row of gabled forms.