Práctica Arquitectura

By Damiano Di Mele - 2 October 2025

Throughout the history of architecture, dialogue with context – or the strategic siting of a building – has always been a central theme. In our times, Álvaro Siza talks of “knowledge of place” as the essential starting point for any project. Siza observes and measures the context, studying the landscape, its language and materials. His architecture slips into its site, enhancing and amplifying existing characteristics. This celebration of the innate character of place was theorized by Christian Norberg-Schulz with his concept of genius loci, whereby architecture is duty-bound to express and reinforce the essence of the context in which it is set. Numerous design projects have enhanced this direct relationship between architecture and nature, creating an authentic connection through specific elements of a particular landscape. Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Fallingwater House built above the Bear Run waterfalls is a case in point: a work that integrates water and the landscape into a summer residence. This same principle of appropriate placement – albeit in a different context – underpins the El Encino project by the Mexican firm Práctica Arquitectura. In this case, the house settles into a steeply sloping site tucked away at the end of a cul-de-sac in a suburban district on the outskirts of Santiago, a small town in the Mexican state of Nuevo León. The building reconciles its geometric architectural design with the lush valley landscape.

Casa “El Encino” © César Béjar, courtesy Práctica Arquitectura