Eight brutalist Mexican home interiors proving concrete isn’t always cold
CategoriesInterior Design

Eight brutalist Mexican home interiors proving concrete isn’t always cold

Raw concrete surfaces are softened by timber and plenty of daylight inside these Mexican houses, rounded up here as part of our latest lookbook.

Many of these brutalist interiors leave their concrete shells exposed and their cavernous rooms largely unadorned.

But freed of the constraints posed by frigid temperatures, they also create a greater connection to the outside, whether overlooking Puerto Escondido’s wave-swept beaches or nestled in the bustling metropolis of Mexico City.

Here, concrete surfaces help to create a sense of seamlessness between indoor and outdoor spaces – often separated only by removable partitions – while unfinished natural materials, such as wood or stone, are brought into the interior.

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring homes with exposed services, primary-coloured living spaces and houses with outdoor showers.


Casa Alférez, Cañada De Alferes, by Ludwig Godefroy in roundup on brutalist Mexican houses
Photo by Rory Gardiner

Casa Alférez, Cañada De Alferes, by Ludwig Godefroy

Tucked away in the forest outside Cañada De Alferes near Mexico City, this brutalist holiday home has a board-formed concrete shell.

This is left on display throughout its entire interior, all the way down to the bedrooms (top image) and the double-height lounge (above).

To bring a sense of homeliness to its otherwise spartan living spaces, architect Ludwig Godefroy added warm wooden floors and lush pops of green – as seen across upholstery and lighting fixtures.

Find out more about Casa Alférez ›


Casa del Sapo by Espacio 18 Arquitectura in Oaxaca, Mexico
Photo by Onnis Luque and Fabian Martinez

La Casa del Sapo, Playa Zapotengo, by Espacio 18 Arquitectura

The kitchen of this seafront home – set right on Oaxaca’s Zapotengo beach – can be merged with its neighbouring patio using a wide wooden folding door.

All-around concrete helps to underline this fusion, while also serving a practical function in the form of a kitchen island and matching shelves.

Find out more about La Casa del Sapo ›


The Hill in Front of the Glen, Morelia, by HW Studio
Photo by César Béjar

The Hill in Front of the Glen, Morelia, by HW Studio

Reminiscent of the Hobbit houses in JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, this sunken home is nestled into a hillside in the forests of Michoacán in central Mexico.

The building’s interiors are defined by its concrete vaulted ceilings, which can be seen in every room, while log benches and full-height glazing provide a visual link to the woodland outside.

Find out more about The Hill in Front of the Glen ›


Casa Mérida by Ludwig Godefroy
Photo by Rory Gardiner

Casa Mérida, Mérida, by Ludwig Godefroy

Mayan architecture and craftsmanship informed the design of this otherwise brutalist house in Yucatán state, which is considered the capital of the indigenous civilisation.

The home’s perimeter walls, for example, have joints covered in stone splinters that take cues from the design of Mayan pyramids and temples. These are left exposed on the interior alongside the concrete ceilings, creating a rich medley of architectural references.

Find out more about Casa Mérida ›


Pachua by PPAA from roundup on brutalist Mexican houses
Photo by Rafael Gamo

Pachuca Apartments, Mexico City, by PPAA

Concrete slabs pave both the patio and living spaces in this Mexico City house to create a sense of continuity, only separated by a full-height glass wall that can be completely pushed open.

On the interior, the rough concrete finishes are contrasted with details in American white oak, among them a long dining table as well as a staircase with treads that slot into a huge bookshelf.

Find out more about Pachuca Apartments ›


Casa UC, Morelia, by Daniela Bucio Sistos
Photo by Dane Alonso and Mariano Renteria Garnica

Casa UC, Morelia, by Daniela Bucio Sistos

Neutral colours and tactile materials are found throughout this home in the city of Morelia, including raw concrete ceilings and floors finished in a honey-toned tropical timber called caobilla.

In the library, the same wood was also used to form integrated shelves and a huge porthole window that can be pivoted open and closed like a door.

Find out more about Casa UC ›


Casa Aguacates, Valle de Bravo, by Francisco Pardo
Photo by Sandra Pereznieto

Casa Aguacates, Valle de Bravo, by Francisco Pardo

Mexican architect Francisco Pardo repurposed the pinewood formwork used in the process of constructing this concrete house to form a series of partition walls throughout the home.

The resulting interior layout is simple and fluid and centres on an open-plan kitchen, dining area and living room that open up onto a sunken garden.

Find out more about Casa Aguacates ›


ZIcatela House by Ludwig Godefroy
Photo by Rory Gardiner

Zicatela, Puerto Escondido, by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy

Set in the small surf town of Puerto Escondido, this weekend home accommodates its main living areas inside a covered patio and is made almost entirely of concrete.

The only exceptions are the doors and sliding louvred wood screens that can be used to open the space up to the gardens on either side, as well as a few sparse furnishings such as the low-slung dining table, which is made from a cross-sectioned tree trunk.

Find out more about Zicatela ›

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring homes with exposed services, primary-coloured living spaces and houses with outdoor showers.

Reference

Eight neutral home interiors proving that beige doesn’t have to be boring
CategoriesInterior Design

Eight neutral home interiors proving that beige doesn’t have to be boring

A residence for retirees in Tel Aviv and a stripped-back Barbican apartment by minimalist architect John Pawson feature in this lookbook of beige interiors designed to bring a sense of calm into the home.

To compensate for their desaturated colour palette, these spaces rely on a varied material palette – ranging from pale timbers and limestone to textured plaster – in order to add visual and tactile interest.

Accompanied by plenty of storage, this helps to create peaceful, decluttered spaces even in tight urban areas.

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring cosy cabins, save-saving pocket doors and Spanish apartment renovations with eclectic tiles.


Dollis Hill Avenue by Thomas-McBrien
Photo by Ståle Eriksen

Dollis Hill Avenue, UK, by Thomas-McBrien

British architecture firm Thomas-McBrien used pale bricks and whitewashed oak joinery to create a “calm and relaxing” atmosphere inside this house extension in London’s Dollis Hill.

In the pursuit of continuity, the timber was used to line everything from the kitchen cupboards and the floors to a newly added partition wall, which conceals a hidden utility room on one side and forms a cosy reading nook on the other.

Find out more about Dollis Hill Avenue ›


Mureli House in Kozyn, Ukraine, by Makhno Studio
Photo courtesy of Makhno Studio

Mureli House, Ukraine, by Makhno Studio

Completed just two months before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, this home near Kyiv was designed to celebrate Ukrainian craft traditions and is finished almost entirely in beige.

“All materials in the home are natural,” architect Serhii Makhno told Dezeen. “The team used almost all Ukrainian brands and worked with several local contractors to minimise the distance and logistics.”

Find out more about Mureli House ›


Plywood kitchen inside Iceberg apartment by Laila Architecture
Photo by Mikaela Burstow

Iceberg apartment, Israel, by Laila Architecture

Israeli architect Talia Davidi of Laila Architecture used only pale, muted colours when designing this apartment in Tel Aviv, with the aim of turning it into a calm refuge for its retired owners.

To form a brighter, more open floor plan, almost all of the home’s partition walls were removed, while many of the surfaces – including the kitchen and the storage volume-cum-room divider in the living room – were finished in light birch plywood.

Find out more about Iceberg apartment ›


Barbican apartment designed by John Pawson
Barbican apartment designed by John Pawson

Barbican apartment, UK, by John Pawson

In keeping with his typically minimalist style, British designer John Pawson stripped this Barbican apartment back to its bare bones, adding only a smattering of furnishings and pale surfaces all around.

Full-height cupboards were integrated into a central timber volume made of bleached maple wood so that all belongings can be stowed away rather than cluttering the space.

Find out more about the Barbican apartment ›


Minimal interiors of forest retreat designed by Norm Architects
Photo by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen

Forest Retreat, Sweden, by Norm Architects

Sandy-hued Dolomite plaster, plump greige sofas and a sheepskin-covered lounge chair were used to dress the living room of this traditional timber cabin in a Swedish forest, which Danish studio Norm Architects has converted into a pared-back holiday home.

“Creating homes is often an exercise in restraint,” explained co-founder Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen. “And while the creation of a simple, authentic and welcoming space might seem effortless and natural once completed, the journey to simplicity and the exercise of finding essence is often rather complex and not an easy task.”

Find out more about Forest Retreat ›


Bedroom inside Low Energy House designed by Architecture for London
Photo by Lorenzo Zandri and Christian Brailey

Low Energy House, UK, by Architecture for London

Architecture for London founder Ben Ridley aimed to celebrate the “modest beauty” of this three-floor Edwardian house in Muswell Hill when turning the neglected building into his own home.

Instead of cement-based products, natural materials including limestone, lime plaster and timber were used throughout the scheme to emphasise the home’s original details while also lowering its embodied carbon footprint.

Find out more about A Brutalist Tropical Home ›


White bedroom with sculptural wooden furniture
Photo by Do Sy

Brown Box apartment, Vietnam, by Limdim House Studio

Creamy terrazzo features not just on the kitchen counters but spills out across all of the floors of this apartment in the Vietnamese port city of Huế, designed by local practice Limdim House Studio.

Curving walls covered in textural plaster provide a backdrop for the interior’s restrained colour palette, which is warmed up with a handful of wooden furnishings to evoke a sense of quiet sophistication.

Find out more about Brown Box apartment ›


Wood Ribbon apartment by Toledano + Architects
Photo by Salem Mostefaoui

Wood Ribbon apartment, France, by Toledano + Architects

A sinuous plywood wall snakes its way through this Haussmann-era apartment in Paris, forming integrated shelves in the sitting room and storage cupboards in the kitchen that can be pushed back to reveal the sink and appliances.

The pale wood complements the apartment’s original parquet flooring and ornate plasterwork, paired with tonal furnishings including an oatmeal-coloured sofa in one room and a travertine island in the other.

Find out more about Wood Ribbon apartment ›

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring cosy cabins, save-saving pocket doors and Spanish apartment renovations with eclectic tiles.

Reference