Mexico City–based architecture firm PPAA has designed a 624-square-foot home that costs just $18,000 to build. The modular concrete dwelling has a dusty pink finish, and it employs locally sourced, cost-effective materials to keep within its tight budget.

The home is one of 32 housing proposals—each representing one of Mexico’s 32 states—designed for Laboratorio de Vivienda, a showcase of easily replicable, affordable, and environmentally friendly homes in Apan, Hidalgo. The exhibition was organized by Mexico’s Institute of the National Housing Fund for Workers, which selected designs from a call for submissions that attracted top architectural talent from around Mexico and the world at large.

Assigned the town of Zaragoza in the northeastern state of Coahuila, PPAA crafted a site-specific, modular dwelling that responds to the region’s humid climate, as well as its proximity to the U.S. border and the San Antonio River.

“The objective of the project was to build a house in a rural context that met the characteristics of a decent home and satisfied the needs of users,” explains the firm. “Its location and proximity to the city of Piedras Negras generates a particular social context due to its connection with the United States. The inhabitants of this locality present a strong aspiration to the American way of life that’s reflected in the local buildings.”

In addition to affordability, adaptability was a guiding design principle for the modular home, which can be easily expanded to meet the needs of a growing family. Each module, which measures 9.84' x 9.84', is built with “very simple construction methods, concrete masonry, and ribbed floor slabs, which is basically what all of the autoconstrucción [self-built structures] in the country are made of,” explain the architects.

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Project Credits:

Architect of Record: PPAA / @perez_palacios_aa

Structural Engineer/Civil Engineer: BVG

Lighting Design/Interior Design: PPAA

Furniture Design: DUCOLAB