Natural instinct: a Mexico City home is designed to bring the outside in

Mixing the inside and outside takes a whole new meaning in this project in Mexico City by local architect Verónica González Zavala and her firm, VGZ Arquitectura. The luxurious family home, entitled House P29, not only opens up to a large garden and terrace that make the most of the region’s pleasant, warm climate, but also makes sure each that every main space has a direct visual connection to the outdoors and interiors are framed by greenery at every possible opportunity.
The generous plan spans four levels. A large lower ground open plan space plays host to the owner’s car collection, exuding an almost gallery-like feel, with its tall ceilings, polished floor and rough concrete walls. A separate parking space at the property’s front sits on a slightly higher level – the site is lightly sloped – and provides further accommodation for cars for the family and guests. Several bedrooms, service and facilities areas, including a dedicated security booth by the garage, sit on the same level, inside.
Upstairs are the home’s main living areas, which spread across the whole level, unfolding in a striking sequence of five interconnected rooms. These include a more formal sitting room, a dining area, a kitchen and a separate study and library. From here, there is immediate access to the garden, which is planted with rich, mature trees, lawn and some lower foliage.
A floating staircase forms the house’s main circulation core, situated right off the main entrance and leading up to the top level, where the master suite can be found – featuring its en suite bathroom, walk-in closet and an informal sitting room – as well as two children’s bedrooms and guest accomodation. All rooms have access to a decked terrace that runs the length of the building.
House P29’s material combination of board formed concrete, stone and dark timber ensures an elegant colour palette throughout, while the careful wood detailing hints to the house’s top construction quality. Add to this natural ventilation and sunlight, and you have a family home that is fully in tune with its location, while acting as the perfect modern urban haven for its residents.
A set of striking stone steps lead up from the street to the house's main entrance and security point.
The house's living spaces occupy a whole floor and include a library and study room.
An open plan living and dining area are seamlessly connected with the outdoors through large floor-to-ceiling openings.
The living spaces are connected to the property's large, lush garden below via a terrace.
Maintaining a strong visual connection to the outdoors from most areas in the house was important for the architect.
The main circulation core sits nearby the entrance in the form of an elegant staircase that leads up to the house's more private area.
House P29 features five bedrooms for its owners - a master suite, two children's rooms and a guest bedroom.
All main bedrooms are matched by a dedicated en suite bathroom.
A generous lower ground level hosts the owner’s car collection in a gallery-like environment.
The project's large openings ensure both natural ventilation and sunlight for the interior.
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the VGZ Arquitectura website
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
Sculpture meets jewellery meets sport? Kelly Wearstler’s latest venture is doing something completely new
The designer is launching a new curatorial platform, Side Hustle, free from the limitations of commercial commissions and aiming to foster truly original, experimental and interdisciplinary work
-
Ballman Khaplova creates a light-filled artist’s studio in upstate New York
This modest artist’s studio provides a creative with an atelier and office in the grounds of an old farmhouse, embedding her practice in the surrounding landscape
-
Italy’s most famous recipe book gets a revamp for its latest edition
‘Il Cucchiaio d'Argento’, or ‘The Silver Spoon’, is Italy's best-known recipe book: artist Olimpia Zagnoli and cultural design studio Bunker collaborated on a new look for its latest edition
-
The Architecture Edit: Wallpaper’s houses of the month
This September, Wallpaper highlighted a striking mix of architecture – from iconic modernist homes newly up for sale to the dramatic transformation of a crumbling Scottish cottage. These are the projects that caught our eye
-
A Mexican clifftop retreat offers both drama, and a sense of place
Casa Piscina del cielo, a clifftop retreat by Zozaya Arquitectos, creates the perfect blend of drama and cosiness on Mexico's Pacific Coast
-
Broken up into six pavilions, this brutalist Mexican house is embedded in the landscape
Sordo Madaleno’s brutalist Mexican house, Rancho del Bosque, is divided up into a series of pavilions to preserve the character of its hillside site, combining concrete, curves and far-reaching views
-
The Architecture Edit: Wallpaper’s houses of the month
Wallpaper* has spotlighted an array of remarkable architecture in the past month – from a pink desert home to structures that appears to float above the ground. These are the houses and buildings that most captured our attention in August 2025
-
Estudio Ome on how the goal of its landscapes ‘is to provoke, even through a subtle detail, an experience’
The Mexico City-based practice explores landscape architecture in Mexico, France and beyond, seeking to unite ‘art and ecology’
-
Pretty in cactus-inspired pink, this Mexican desert house responds to its arid context
Casa Cardona, a pink house by architects Sensacional Dinamica Mexicana, is a multigenerational home that celebrates colour and changing light
-
As climate disasters increase, can architecture respond? Kon-tigo, a post-hurricane Acapulco house design, shows us how
Kon-tigo is a housing project by Manuel Cervantes Estudio, which creates bioclimatic homes that address climate disasters and inequalities in Acapulco, Mexico
-
An eco-friendly Mexican ranch offers sleep under a beautifully crafted brick vault
Architects Goma have built a Mexican ranch with a stunning red-brick guest pavilion; Rancho El Ameyal is a lush eco-retreat in the central Mexican state of Querétaro