Casa en Tres Ríos

WORDS Lynette Botha PHOTOS César Béjar Studio

In the heart of Culiacán, Mexico, stands a modest yet striking abode by César Béjar Studio, challenging the neighbourhood’s design norms with its minimalist allure.

This small home in Culiacán on Mexico’s Pacific coast is, as its creators put it, “willing to be the simplest household in the neighbourhood”. Designed by architects César Béjar Studio, the narrow building is squeezed between two equally design-led properties, and represents an interesting response to its neighbours.

Externally, it’s simple but bold, offering stark contrast to the colour, shape and texture of its fussier neighbours. Its solid mass appears to float between the adjoining walls, as if trying to find lightness in its condition of being heavy – but it also visually retracts to be slightly less visible and more private.

The long, narrow house is built over three floors on a 330m2 plot, but has only one street-facing window. This singular aperture is also recessed to protect from the southern sun and shade itself. The three-storey structure is interrupted by open spaces that create a visual connection between the two double heights. Inward-facing patios and terraces ensure privacy while allowing light into the home. They also allow the pink of the exterior walls to bounce some colour into an otherwise white interior. That – and the direct overhead yellow light – adds pops of colour to a blank canvas that’s devoid of both colour and texture. Natural light floods in during the day and, thanks to small blue windows that change these hues and intensify the variants, the interior is bathed in a delicate, warm ambiance. | cesarbejarstudio.com

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