An Artist Lets the Wind and Wildlife of Oaxaca Flow Through Her Radically Open Home

In 2017, Deborah Castillo was walking on the beach in Puerto Escondido, Mexico, with no other people except a lone fisherman: "It was like a dream," she says. "I love being on my own on a beach, reading or listening to opera." The artist was visiting from New York City for an art fair, but she felt a pull to stay. She scoured the area for For Sale signs with no success, but after enough asking around, she found and bought a lot just a six-minute stroll from the beach.

Together with her longtime friend, Los Angeles designer Ana Lasala, Deborah began envisioning a home that could embrace Puerto Escondido’s contrasts. Here, the Pacific brings waves that attract surfers from all over the world but also hurricanes. And the abundant sunshine—another tourist draw—demands creative solutions for shade and cooling.

Deborah and Lasala, who runs the architecture firm Lasala & Lasala with her sister, came up with Palapa Concreta, a 1,560-square-foot structure reminiscent of an A-frame cabin with a concrete base enclosed by a palapa roof—a traditional thatching made with palm leaves. The design sheds rain easily while also providing ample shade, and by making the roof steep rather than wide, Lasala reduced the home’s footprint and preserved more space for the yard.