Four Tree House–Like Pods Form an Enchanting Retreat in Mexico

Can a modernistic edifice, one composed of bleak concrete and visually unforgiving steel, blend, somewhat casually, into a woodsy, jungle-like environment? Can strong architectural form exist without throwing aside the verdant allure of nature by which it’s surrounded? Perhaps yes, if the structure is Casa en el Bosque—a single-family home that consists of four small pavilions linked by a winding exterior walkway that seem to float above the forest upon which it’s perched.

Appraising concrete as a medium used in the home-construction industry, it’s all too easy to think of Brutalism—the modernistic movement characterized by monolithic, blocky shapes, rigid geometric style and the large-scale use of poured concrete.

This property, though, is far from brutal. If you’ll allow us a little wordplay, we’ll invent the term "quadruplism," as the retreat features not one but four concrete pavilions. Located in a large forest just outside Santiago, Nuevo León, the fascinating "house in the forest" is suffused with a plethora of ingenious design features, each envisioned to ensure that the man-made complex sits comfortably in its forested context.