This site chronicles the construction of a house in Merida Mexico.

The house is approximately 70 years old and is located in the Centro Historico district of Merida in Mexico. It is a small house around 6 metres wide and about 10 metres long. The entire lot however is about 70 metres deep.

Architects Cecilia Sanchez and Jose Alvarez Patron of Jarco are overseeing design and construction of the home.

The house was purchased in January 2010 and permits from INAH and the City of Merida took about 2 months. While we were waiting for permits, we worked on the design of the house with Cecilia Sanchez.

There were a number of goals we had in mind when building this home:

1. We wanted a sustainable approach to construction: recycling where possible, utilizing the wind and shade where possible and conserving energy.
2. In keeping with current architectural trends we wanted to investigate creative ways of dealing with smaller spaces
3. We wanted to be a cost-effective as possible to demonstrate the sustainable construction doesn’t have to be expensive construction.

Construction has begun in early June 2010 and is expected to take up to four months.

Phil Reilly & Nancy Reilly.