Pacific dreams: a coastal Mexican home built like a micro-village
The old adage that it takes a village to raise a child was very probably at the back of Alejandro Bernardi's mind when he sat down at his desk to draft the plans for the Mexican 'House on the Pacific Coast'.
As it turns out, ‘house’ is entirely the wrong word to describe this project, built on a secluded wind- and sea-swept spot in Zihuatanejo, a town on the edge of Mexico’s Pacific coast, 160 miles northwest of Acapulco.
The owner is an entrepreneurial businessman with a large family who has worked with Bernardi on a number of projects. The brief was to build a holiday home that could accommodate the family, but without detracting from the security and privacy of the site, nor stand apart from the community.
Take an interactive tour of House on the Pacific Coast
‘That was the biggest challenge,’ says Bernardi, of Mexico City-based firm Bernardi + Peschard. ‘We did not want a massive building which could disrupt the context. So, we decided to break up the plot into several small buildings that are separated by lush landscape. This creates a small village in which the family can grow for generations to come and each son can have his own small casita in the future.’
The result is a micro-village of 14 rooms, albeit a tremendously sleek one in which the traditional Mexican palapa (or beach house), with its peaked straw-thatched roof, has been given a distinct contemporary twist. Each of the small buildings – pavilions, really – is arranged along a sandy path connected by stepping stones made of cut rounds of tree trunks, and features an earthy, tactile mix of exposed concrete, local parota wood and stone against a landscape of wild vegetation and canopy of palm trees.
The ocean views, of course, are spectacular – whether from the 17m saltwater pool or from the second floor bedrooms. And where possible, Bernardi has elided walls, allowing sea-breezes to flow through the non-air-conditioned spaces. The site is stunning, Bernardi points out a little unnecessarily, but ‘the way the buildings are arranged makes them very private while at the same time the public spaces are very open, inviting and with the best views’.
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Bernardi + Peschard Arquitectura website
Photography: Rafael Gamo
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Daven Wu is the Singapore Editor at Wallpaper*. A former corporate lawyer, he has been covering Singapore and the neighbouring South-East Asian region since 1999, writing extensively about architecture, design, and travel for both the magazine and website. He is also the City Editor for the Phaidon Wallpaper* City Guide to Singapore.
-
Tiffany & Co nods to its theatrical history with a surreal new campaign
Tiffany & Co campaign ‘With Love, Since 1837’ sees Dan Tobin Smith and set designer Rachel Thomas create an offbeat set
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Celine’s new fragrance Zou Zou is inspired by 1960s heroines
Celine debuts a new fragrance, Zou Zou, inspired by Hedi Slimane’s obsession with 1960s youth culture
By Hannah Tindle Published
-
Bar Spero, in Washington DC, nods to the playful nature of Spanish cuisine
Bar Spero is a Spanish seafood bar and grill designed by Streetsense and led by chef Johnny Spero
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
Modernist architecture: inspiration from across the globe
Modernist architecture has had a tremendous influence on today’s built environment, making these midcentury marvels some of the most closely studied 20th-century buildings; check back soon for new additions to our list
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Antonio Solá offers a residential haven of calm in Mexico City
Antonio Solá, a new housing project by architecture studio Módica Ledezma, is a complex of four townhouses that offer serenity in the bustle of Mexico City
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
A Mexican artist’s studio makes the most of light and volume in San Miguel Chapultepec
A Mexican artist's studio and home, designed by JJRR in the heart of Mexico City, makes the most of volume and light for its owner, Stefan Brüggemann
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Pabellón de la Reserva and its sustainable architecture nod to its natural setting
Pabellón de la Reserva by architecture studio Hemaa offers an idyllic countryside getaway, a stone's throw from Mexico City
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated
-
Orchid Pavilion channels Japanese philosophy for blossoming flowers in Puerto Escondido
Orchid Pavilion by CCA Centro de Colaboración Arquitectónica provides fitting shelter for flower conservation in Mexico's Casa Wabi
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Residential development The Village on the Yucatán Peninsula frames its verdant environment
The Village by Sordo Madaleno is a meticulously composed apartment building, built on a strict grid with an emphasis on outside space and connection to site
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
1i Arquitectura’s House of the Tall Trees celebrates a spectacular forested site
This Mexican retreat, House of the Tall Trees, makes the most of a wooded site with a striking combination of glass, timber and concrete
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Casa Carrizo was designed as a breezy Mexican beach house
Casa Carrizo, designed by Mexican architecture studio BAAQ, is a beach house sitting on the idyllic shores of Mexico’s Pacific coast
By Ellie Stathaki Published