cadaval & solà-morales' residence exists in perfect symbiosis with its mexican forest surroundings

located in the middle of a forest two hours north of mexico city, casa de la roca achieves the perfect balance between blending within its surrounding landscape and vegetation, and standing out at the same time. designed by barcelona and mexico city-based practice cadaval & solà-morales, the house features three distinct lookout wings with floor-to-ceiling windows at their ends, distant from each other, and joined together by a central ‘nodal’, which is protected but open to the outside environment.

photos by sandra pereznieto

the unique landscape surrounding cadaval & solà-morales‘ forest retreat extends onto the low-rise structure’s roof, attributing to it a certain anonymity amidst the intense vegetation and exuberant views. at the same time, the house is painted black, using paint and not dye, as the architects highlight, as a layer of material protection that adds to its character and ensures it will survive the elements for many years. the design strategy is developed to a large degree through the project’s materiality, where, on the one hand, the architects had to make decisions based on maintenance, structure and thermal behavior, and, on the other hand, consider the visual weight ‘that architecture must have in landscapes as recondite as the one the house occupies’.