Rising up from the idyllic shores of Lake Avándaro, the 500-year-old town of Valle de Bravo is sometimes referred to as the Hamptons of Mexico City. Located about an hour west of the capital, the locale has long been a popular vacation destination for those looking to escape the busy city, but during the pandemic, the number of those arriving—and staying longer—increased. For architect Pablo Pérez Palacios, who runs a design firm in Mexico City, the area’s rise in popularity was no surprise.

“Valle de Bravo is beautiful, and there are lots of outdoor activities available,” says Pablo, who purchased land in the area seven years ago and built a small A-frame vacation home for himself and his wife, Sofia. “After the pandemic, it became even more popular, but we are far enough out that it still feels private. There is a point where you have to drive off-road for about 10 minutes...we slow the car down, open the back to let the dogs out, and they follow us on the way up.”

Before Pablo and Sofia had their two children, their weekends at the A-frame were rustic. The small shelter lacked running water and electricity, so it felt more like a campsite than a second home. “We’d bring a cooler of beer and hang out all weekend,” the architect recalls. “By the time we had our first child, we needed more space and amenities.”

Opting to work with the existing structure—oriented south to protect from the weather and take advantage of natural light—Pablo identified a sloping area free of trees where he planned to build additional bedrooms (the open cabin had a sleeping loft that they retained). “We only had to take out one tree during this project,” he says, “and we reused the wood for a rail on the terrace.”

The original shelter, built with treated pine, now holds the home’s living room and kitchen. The new additions include a long, rectangular form that runs perpendicular to the A-frame (which Pablo extended to create a covered outdoor seating and gathering area).

Built into the hillside, this private zone has three bedrooms and is distinguishable by its handmade stucco walls, tinted with black pigment. Topping this volume is a long terrace made from local quarry stone. An extension of the home’s public space, it includes a pool, which is popular on hot summer days. Under the new section of the pitched roof—which has glass panes running along its lower half—is a dining and lounge area. The low-profile furniture’s neutral color palette don’t distract from the lush forest views.

“We tried to keep the home as simple as possible, but still make an architectural statement” says Pablo. He notes that the A-frame typology is popular in the area due to the weather. “There are six months where it starts raining every afternoon at 3 pm, but sitting under the A-frame listening to the rain on the roof and in the trees is a wonderful experience.”

When the family of four isn’t spending time reading on the terrace, playing games, or entertaining friends (“We’ve put out a long table and had a dinner parties for 25 before,” Pablo says), they enjoy cultivating plants and vegetables in the property’s greenhouse and tending to a pack of on-site chickens. And when even the terrace pool isn’t enough to cure summertime boredom, outdoor activities—such as fly fishing and mountain biking—are an easy fix.

But the house isn’t all about warm-weather fun. Pablo says that his family likes to spend time there year-round. The interiors—done in a palette of treated pine, stucco, and local stone—are simple yet refined: an ode to the original A-frame that kicked off the whole project.

“It feels like something honest,” Pablo says of the house. “It doesn’t hide anything, and it doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not. As architects, we tend to over-design, or try to make strong statements with our work. This project reminded me of the importance of considering the site—because the strongest statement you can make is when your work shows that you understand the connection with nature.”

More Projects by PPAA:

This Affordable, Millennial-Pink Home in Mexico Cost Just $18K to Build

A Secret Garden Grows at the Heart of a Concrete Home in Mexico City

A Remote Holiday Home Celebrates Raw and Natural Materials in Mexico

Project Credits:

Architecture: Pérez Palacios Arquitectos Asociados / @perez_palacios_aa

Builder: TUCA Asociados / @tuca.valle