Cuatro Patios House

2016 Residential Architect Design Awards
Custom House Less Than 3,000 Square Feet: Citation

Located in a historic Mexico City neighborhood, the Cuatro Patios House by Andrés Stebelski Arquitecto is an unexpectedly modern interior stealthily inserted into a traditional masonry structure. The plan is arranged in a grid that alternates landscaped courtyards with spaces enclosed by steel-framed glass walls. The calm and composed interiors, with their wood paneling, contrast with the riot of textures and materials found in the four courtyards: the old plaster and brick of the original structure, pebble-covered ground planes, and flowering vegetation. These terrariums make the house feel both larger than it is, by framing views that extend through the courtyards and into the next room over, and more intimate, with delicate self-contained gardens right at hand. The two floors are connected via floating stairs, and bridges that cut through the double-height interiors to connect the second-floor bedrooms. A glass-enclosed rooftop patio holds a hammock from which residents can look out over a roof garden.