Stepping from the original 1950’s post-and-beam house in a suburban area of Mexico City, Anexo D is the extension’s name. It has the sense of crossing limits: historically, from one century to another in terms of architectural design, and psychologically, to a space where the children are independent of the family unit. The volume of Anexo D is contrasted with the existing building, while its space is continuous and unlimited. Inspiration for the extension derived from various sources, most obviously a snail shell, but also from topography and even bodily organs.

It is conceived as a protective cocoon that counterbalances the linearity of the existing building. Anexo D provides an intimate interior space for the children and the bottom skin opens towards the garden by folding back on itself, with a stepped winding ramp progressively linking interior and exterior. The curving facade is mainly blind with minimal light-apertures, to accentuate the sense of an enclosed space. The result is a charming, if unusual, fungus-like growth protruding from one of the facades, its volume mushrooming into the garden.

Anexo D consists out of a steel-ribbed structure covered with polyurethane foam. The polyurethane surface was later equalized and treated with a polymer coating durability. This project was an opportunity to explore processes in design and to develop new construction systems, but it required multiple prototypes and extensive computer-generated imagery to perfect the procedures. Anexo D became an interesting architectural representation because of its confrontation between 1950’s house and a contemporary appearance with its continuous skin material.

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