Architecture Wednesday: Bacoc Hacienda

Hacienda Bacoc, completed in 2009, is a 4,618 square foot contemporary home built on the site of century-old hacienda in Seye, Yucatan, Mexico; the architect even used some of the original stone walls to build the home.

The shell of hacienda Bacoc was built as a factory of sorts between 1880 and 1910 for the production of sisal fiber. With the decline of this activity in Yucatan the hacienda was abandoned before it became a modest rustic ranch dedicated to livestock and beekeeping. The property continued to deteriorate until 2006, when it was bought by its present owners; the main house was ruined, nothing more than a few old walls and no roof.

The architectural design concept arose from the desire to preserve and strengthen the historical home, without losing it's original charm. A new building was added, and was set amid water gardens, while the older parts of the home stand guard around it.

The new part also functions as a lobby of sorts, that links to the new construction. The design also updated the use of traditional Old World finishing  techniques; the facades were covered in stucco with a resin base from the endemic “Chukum” tree and left in their natural color. The concrete walls were cast on-site and used the red earth “Cancab” from the south of Yucatan as aggregate. 

The new volume – space dimensions, ceiling heights, proportion of openings, orientation, and window layout – are a contemporary recreation of the architecture of old Yucatan henequen haciendas. 

They took the best of the Old World and combined it with the best of the New World to create a most tranquil home.

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