Pritzker Prize Winner Alejandro Aravena Is Raffling Off His Latest Home for Charity

The Chilean architect has donated an epic concrete residence to Sorteos Tec Tradicional, an annual lottery that funds scholarships for students in Mexico.

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Duncan Nielsen

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In a hilly neighborhood in Monterrey, Mexico, stands a castle-like home, cylindrical and monolithic. Larger-than-life cutouts in the facade look like they were taken with a massive clay knife. On the top level, a suite connects to a patio where parapets block out the city while a cutout frames epic mountain views. Surely, the home is a millionaire’s fantasy come to life. But in reality, this is anyone’s fantasy.

To create Casa del Tec, the grand prize for Solteos Tec Tradicional, a lottery in Mexico that funds scholarships for higher eduction, Chilean firm Elemental referenced castle design. "They are fortresses turned inward, protecting something inside that we cannot see. They are simultaneously strong and monumental, and have an abstract presence in the world. Castles are introverted, but not shy."

The roughly 6,000-square-foot residence, along with two Mercedes and a bank check, a value of roughly $3.7 million USD, is the grand prize for Mexico’s Sorteos Tec Tradicional lottery, an annual raffle that funds scholarships for students attending Tecnológico de Monterrey, an institution for higher education.

About $1,200 pesos—roughly $60 USD—enters you in the raffle for the dream home, and supports the dreams of student hopefuls. While the school says that historically it has provided at least some type of scholarship support to one out of every two students, the money raised by the home via Sorteos Tec will go directly to Leaders of Tomorrow, an organization that, since 2013, has provided full scholarships to more than 1,700 students, according to a statement from Sorteos.

On the ground level, one of the home’s massive cutouts creates a connection with the outdoors.

The primary suite on the third level connects to a terrace where one of the home’s cutouts frames mountain views.

Casa del Tec features a cylindrical three-level plan. The ground floor is wrapped in glass and spills out onto a backyard with a lawn and pool.

In its 75 years of operation, this is the 213th time the philanthropic organization will offer a residence as its prize. It could offer developer homes, but instead partners with world-renowned architects who design and donate something eye-catching.

This iteration’s castle-like residence, Casa del Tec, is by Elemental, a Chilean firm known for its experimental concrete designs and public works projects. Led by director Alejandro Aravena, who won the 2016 Pritzker Prize, the firm is renowned for the positive social impact it has created through its development of infrastructure and affordable housing. Here, Aravena and his firm are doing something similar.

"This house made for Sorteos Tec transforms architectural value into lottery tickets that will improve the quality of life for hundreds of young people," says Aravena. "That is what one as an architect seeks to achieve all the time: to contribute to the common good through a work."

Beyond the grand prize, raffle winners can take home cash, more luxury SUVs like an Audi e-tron or BWM ix3, or, for second place, a condo in Cancun. Winners will be announced December 22, 2022.