Located inside the walled center of the City of Campeche is Casa Iguana, a 6x23m lot where a house once existed. On the long side of the house, across the street, is the city wall, undoubtedly an element that has a constant presence in the inhabitation and performance of the different spaces of the house.

Being a place of historical value, local regulations determined the guiding principle of design: Preservation. Thus the strategy was to maintain the walls and proportions of the original house, and at the same time, readapt the spaces to its new architectural program as a guest house with all the comforts that the current hospitality market demands.

Due to the state in which the house was found, the reconstruction and restoration process has allowed us to learn and understand the local architecture and its construction techniques in a more direct way. During this process we have found ourselves on several occasions in the dilemma between improving and preserving, always looking for the best balance that ensures maintaining identity and providing comfort.

The interior design uses and reinterprets colors, materials and decorative motifs characteristic of the area, in this way it is related to its immediate context at the same time that, in a subtle way, it proposes a different and contemporary architecture that enhances what exists but that evolves and changes. It offers a feeling of newness  but with an air of familiarity.

Photography:

1,8 - Fabián Martínez.

2,3,4,5,6 - Tamara Uribe.