Valle de Bravo^MX

In the Las Peñitas nature reserve, we visit several self-catering holiday homes by Fernanda Canales, Mauricio Rocha and Hector Barroso. cielo y terra also comes to the fore in these holiday homes. In Casa Terreno, for example, designed by Fernanda Canales, the open rooms as living spaces build on the long tradition of the courtyard in Mexican architecture. The patios, together with the roofs accessed by steps in the courtyards, provide a connection to and a vantage point from which to view the constant change of time on land and in the sky: the fast-moving clouds, the lifting of fog and the changing colours of the slopes. Earth is also employed in the architecture: bricks were produced nearby. But because the architect predicted that many bricks would be damaged during transport over the winding and unpaved roads, she deliberately decided to use broken bricks. These were ‘cracked’ in half, exposing the rough side, creating an unusual and textured red wall surface.