Casa Mexicana
Seven homes rooted in light, earth, and stillness. In Mexico, space is never separate from its surroundings — the walls breathe with the heat, and life moves with the sun.
The day begins early here.
Heat gathers slowly over volcanic soil, dry hills, dense jungle, and desert outskirts; light moves across stone walls long before the houses fully wake. In Mexico, architecture is rarely separate from its environment. Homes are shaped around shade, airflow, thick materials, open courtyards, and the rituals that come with living close to the elements.
The projects in this journal reflect a quieter side of contemporary Mexican architecture — one defined less by decoration than by atmosphere. Concrete left raw, plaster warmed by the sun, trees growing through courtyards, rooms designed around silence, shadow, and air. Across these seven houses, architecture becomes a way of slowing down and paying closer attention to place.
Casa Tejocote by GOMA is built around the idea of privacy, shade, and connection to the semi-desert landscape surrounding Querétaro. Four monolithic concrete volumes surround a central garden, creating a house that feels both protective and deeply open to nature. Pigmented earth-toned concrete, filtered light, and semi-open living spaces give the home a quiet warmth — where architecture becomes less about objects and more about atmosphere.
photos aridna polo
Set among pine trees, Alférez House by Ludwig Godefroy emerges as a quiet concrete retreat shaped by shadow, stillness, and the surrounding landscape, on the outskirts of Mexico City — part cabin, part concrete fortress. Built into a steep forested slope, the house rises vertically to capture light through the trees, with cathedral-like interiors, skylights, and split levels that create a constant dialogue between shadow and openness. Raw concrete gives the structure a protective, monolithic presence, softened by filtered sunlight, warm wood, and the feeling of living suspended within the landscape.
photos Rory Gardiner
Designed by Salvador Román Hernández and Adela Mortera Villarreal, Gruta House feels less like a conventional home and more like a space carved directly into the landscape. Raw concrete walls, deep shadows, and cave-like rooms create interiors that remain cool and quiet throughout the day, while carefully placed openings allow light to enter gradually. The result is a house that feels intentionally withdrawn — heavy, grounded, and deeply connected to the terrain around it.
photos Fabian Martinez
Casa Monte by Carlos Matos is composed of heavy geometric volumes that appear almost weathered by the landscape around them. Deep openings, reflecting pools and textured earth-coloured walls create a constant interplay between shadow, water and late-afternoon light, giving the house a calm, almost ceremonial atmosphere. While the architecture feels monolithic in scale, open courtyards and softened edges allow the surrounding vegetation to slowly move into the space.
photos by Fabian Martinez
Designed by Estudio Macías Peredo, Casa Primaveras unfolds around a mature rubber tree that anchors the entire project. A series of pitched concrete volumes are arranged carefully around the roots, creating open living spaces that feel closer to a garden pavilion than a conventional house. Tinted concrete, dark stone floors and warm timber soften the structure’s monumental quality, while large openings allow the surrounding vegetation and shifting daylight to move constantly through the interiors.
photos by César Béjar
Perched on the Oaxacan coast, Casa Tobi by Espacio 18 Arquitectura is designed as a series of concrete volumes that step carefully down the hillside towards the Pacific Ocean. Open-air corridors, shaded terraces and monolithic walls help protect the interiors from the region’s intense heat, while allowing sea breezes and filtered light to move freely through the house. Finished in an earthy green-toned concrete that echoes the surrounding vegetation, the project feels both monumental and deeply rooted in its landscape.
photos by César Béjar
For House With No Name, HW Studio designed a home intended to slow everyday life down. Arranged as a sequence of enclosed courtyards and dimly lit concrete volumes, the project relies on shadow, proportion and silence rather than decoration to shape its atmosphere. Openings are reduced to the essentials, allowing light to enter in controlled moments throughout the day, while raw materials and sparse interiors give the house an almost monastic character. Photography by César Béjar.
photos by César Béjar