This Beach House in Mexico Frames the Landscape With an Orderly Concrete Grid
On a rustic strip of coastline near Puerto Escondido, a couple give their designers permission to do less.
On a rustic strip of coastline near Puerto Escondido, a couple give their designers permission to do less.
Theater producer Claudio Sodi is part of a creative family. His partner, Aranza de Ariño, is an architect. His mother is the actor Laura Zapata, famous for her telenovela roles. And his brother is the well-known artist Bosco Sodi. Together with Claudio’s real-estate developer father, they have spent the last few years turning a secluded area near Puerto Escondido, Mexico, into an enclave that combines the surf town’s bohemian vibe with unusually ambitious architecture.
Aranza de Ariño and Claudio Sodi gave the architects at S-AR carte blanche to design their 850-square-foot beach retreat.
Photo: Benjamin Rasmussen
The studio delivered an open structure that frames its natural surroundings.
Photo: Benjamin Rasmussen
Bosco Sodi founded Casa Wabi, a nonprofit arts center—designed by Pritzker Prize winners Tadao Ando and Álvaro Siza, among others—that anchors the area. Within walking distance is a tiny house, featured in many travel articles about the region, that Aranza designed while still a student. When Aranza and Claudio, who are based in Mexico City, set out to build their own getaway nearby, they gave their designers a fitting amount of creative latitude.
Local woodworkers made the chairs in the living room. Claudio and Aranza lined up nine blocks of wood from nearby construction sites to create an ad hoc coffee table. The enclosed portions of the house have massive louvered sliders, also built by local carpenters.
Photo: Benjamin Rasmussen
See the full story on Dwell.com: This Beach House in Mexico Frames the Landscape With an Orderly Concrete Grid
