We often find ourselves talking about projects for surreal futuristic skyscrapers, habitable cabins or eco-sustainable and autonomous houses, but we have never talked about a temporary house, built to be inhabited for a predetermined period of time, at the end of which it is dismantled. In fact, it is strange to think of a building as something with an expiration date, but sometimes the unthinkable also happens. The architect Alejandro d’Acosta designed Casa Elías as a prelude to a project to come. 

Casa Elías is located in Mexico, on top of a hill in the Valle de Guadalupe. Here, in the future, a larger project will be developed and in order to accommodate both the client and the professionals, the architect has thought of building a house where they can stay and work at the same time.  

Casa Elías has the appearance of a pile dwelling, raised from the ground so as not to affect it, and was built using the structure of an old prefabricated classroom. These classrooms were designed to be divided in two and to be easily transported and reassembled. Once arrived at the chosen site, the architect decided not to reunite the two bodies of the classroom, but to form a 90-degree angle with them, a space in which a large terrace was then built. Moreover, since the choice of not joining the two parts of the classroom left both bodies completely without a wall, the facades facing the terrace were built by assembling doors and windows, horizontally and vertically interlocked. This trick, in addition to being aesthetically spectacular, makes it possible to take advantage of daylight at all hours of the day and to admire the view not only from outside but also from inside.

As long as it is used, let us enjoy the beauty of Casa Elías.