escobedo soliz creates warmth with industrial materials in mexico

nogal house: a home designed to Grow with Its Owners

In a semi-rural pocket of Toluca, Mexico, a city perched at altitude and famed for its colonial fabric, Escobedo Soliz’s Nogal House stands as a concrete contradiction: both spare and generous, industrial and warm, modest and monumental. The project may not flaunt ornate ironwork or tiled rooftops, but its strength lies in subtler gestures — ones that emerge over time, like the shifting shadows on its textured walls.

The home is built for a newly married couple looking to build their life, and their home, in stages. Rather than opt for a sprawling footprint or preemptive over-design, the architects proposed a single rectangular volume with soaring ceilings that could evolve with the family’s needs. Using concrete and cement blocks, the initial stage feels both elemental and generous, a pavilion that prioritizes light, space, and flexibility over ornament.

images © Ariadna Polo

Escobedo Soliz Conceals Complexity Behind a Minimal Facade

Escobedo Soliz orients its Nogal House to greet the street with an unassuming face, a simple gray form aligned with the front boundary. But step inside, and the architecture reveals its layered nature. At the heart of the main volume, a second rectangular prism crafted from ribbed industrial brick contains essential services like the bathroom, fireplace, and water storage. It’s a quiet move by the architects that organizes the rest of the plan while reinforcing the project’s material palette.

Unfolding as a continuous open space, the home’s living room, study, kitchen, and dining area coexist under a single roof. Above the kitchen, a timber loft holds the bedroom — a warm perch overlooking the main space. The simplicity of the layout belies a keen spatial intelligence: circulation is fluid, and zones feel distinct without the need for partitions or excess structure.

Escobedo Soliz sites its Nogal House in a semi-rural area on the outskirts of Toluca, Mexico

Material Warmth Through Industrial Logic

With its Nogal House, Escobedo Soliz demonstrates how humble industrial materials can generate emotional richness. A ceiling system of prestressed concrete beams and ceramic coffers creates texture and rhythm above, while the floor is paved with matching ceramic tiles. The ribbed brick interior core acts as a filter for natural light, casting sepia tones that shift throughout the day. The result is a space that feels tactile and lived-in, despite its raw palette.

The architecture may not clamor for attention from the outside, but that’s precisely the point. The concrete and block exterior blends into the patchwork of neighboring homes, many of which are built from similar exposed materials. But where others stop at function, this house goes further — inviting light, texture, and time to animate its surfaces. It’s a quiet kind of architecture, more interested in experience than display.

If Nogal House is any indication, Escobedo Soliz has a talent for making the minimal feel meaningful. And in Toluca’s high-altitude terrain, where contemporary and historic design often collides, that’s no small feat.

the home was designed to be built in stages to accommodate a growing family