Glass Casa La Semilla Opens Beautifully to Its Lush Surroundings

A long, low concrete and glass building near <a href="http://inhabitat.com/partially-furry-glass-cube-uses-tradition-palapa-as-a-sustainable-facade/">Cuernavaca</a>, Mexico is a study in living amongst your natural surroundings. The owners wanted a constant connection to their external environment, so <a href="http://t3arc.blogspot.com/search/label/a01%20Casa%20La%20Semilla">t3arc</a> designed a simply formed home surrounded by sliding glass walls. Set within a lush, green forest, Casa La Semilla or "The Seed" is a pod filled with life and light, and cooled with <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/natural-ventilation">natural ventilation</a>.

The two bedroom home seems far larger than it really is due to the use of all glass walls and influx of daylighting.

In the often hot climate of Jiutepec Morelos, Mexico where the home is located, little is ever needed in the way of heating, but cooling is a necessity.

A large flat concrete roof creates large overhangs with which to shade the interior of the home.

The sliding <a href="http://inhabitat.com/preserved-cannon-foundry-wrapped-in-a-glass-box-makes-for-a-striking-modern-house/">glass walls</a> open to create cross breezes making it feel more like you are outdoors than indoors.

At night, interior lighting illuminates the forest.

The forest also helps shade the home for direct sunlight and overheating.

One of the two bedrooms.

The living area looks out into the forest.

Inside, partitions separate the living and kitchen are from the bedrooms and bathroom rather than traditional walls.

A large concrete wall in the back creates a protected courtyard.

And the glass exterior gives the impression that each room extends beyond into the forest.

A large wooden deck cantilevers over a pond, which stores water for irrigation of the rest of the landscape.

The simple, open form is more like a <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/temporary-pavilion">pavilion</a> than a traditional home and an experiment in living surrounded completely by nature.