INTERIOR DESIGN & ARCHITECTURE

Federico Delrosso presented a new concept of a single-family home in Mexico City, hailing from the Mediterranean home with internal courtyard.

Federico Delrosso presented a new concept of a single-family home at the ELA’ international trade fair (Mexico City).

“The idea behind the Domus Mediterranea arose during my travels between Italy and Mexico. In spite of our differences and the ocean dividing us, I continued to perceive an important link between Mediterranean and Mexican architecture” says Federico Delrosso. “I identified the "patio" house as a recurring type of home in countries with a Latin culture: from the Italian Domus to the Mexican Vecindades (Vecindades is the name given to traditional Mexican homes with an internal courtyard and translates as “neighbourhood”). I designed a patio home, giving it the Latin name “Domus Mediterranea”, as this is a culture that we have in common. My concept doesn’t intend to recreate outdated types of homes, but to create a home for living today, because beyond being a testimony and having historic value, I believe that a building like this can spark interesting ideas for contemporary lifestyles”.

Built full-scale, on an area of about 135 m2 (113m2 for the house + 22m2 for the patio), the Domus Mediterranea designed by Delrosso also pays tribute to the Vecindad: a structure which is not purely a family building, but rather a “neighbourhood”, in which to share spaces and form tighter relationships. In this sense, the Vecindad comes very close to the idea of connected sociability, as we see today on the Internet and social networks.

“As an architect, I can’t help but love contemporary architecture, but I think that it’s interesting to allow the energy and spirit of architecture from the past to re-emerge because of its attention to human relationships. Today we can recover the great architectural heritage of the Mexican Vecindades, reinterpreting it to discover good quality architecture and ways of living.” F.D.

The Domus Mediterranea has been designed for a nuclear family of four.

The furniture has been selected from Mexican and Italian companies, further acknowledging the link and co-operation between countries with a “Mediterranea” soul: Grupo Interni, Flou, Design Creativo, Calor de Hogar, Hansgrohe, Lutron, Pedini, Philips, Firenze, Vitra Bathroom Culture, Susanna Sierra and Arrigoni.

During the ELA’ trade fair, Federico Delrosso hold the “Moving the Boundaries” conference, in which he presented his work as an architect and designer starting from his recent monograph edited by Porzia Bergamasco.

The conference was organized by the trade fair on a yearly basis to bring together the most relevant figures in international architecture, such as Karim Rashid last year.

ELA’ is a lighting design fair specializing in the architectural, commercial, industrial, outdoor and indoor sectors, as well as in technologies for energy savings and renewable energy sources.

The EDI fair specializes in high-level interior design.

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