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    Suspended bridges connect round cabin hotels in Mexico

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    Mexican architect María José Gutiérrez has placed a series of round, pine-clad cabins connected by suspended bridges onto a vineyard in Mexico to serve as vacation rentals.

    Located in Valle de Guadalupe, Ensenada on the Baja Peninsula, Zeuhary Hospedaje Campestre includes a community lounge and four vacation rental cabins.
    Top: photo by Martin Acevedo. Above: the cabins are located in Baja California, Mexico. Photo by Jonatan Ruvalcaba Maciel”Beyond creating spaces we aim to create experiences, where nature and human beings integrate and recognize each other,” María José Gutiérrez, who leads Mexican studio Arqos Arquitectura Arte Y Diseño, told Dezeen.
    “The architecture and interior design were focused on connecting with the environment and maintaining harmony with it.”
    Central bedrooms feature in the round buildingsCompleted in June 2022, the 250 square metres (2,690 square feet) of built area is divided into five 40-square metre (430-square foot) structures that look outward to the surrounding wine region.

    The ground floor of each cabin is divided orthogonally, splitting off a portion for a partially covered exterior porch that leads into the sleeping space through a glass sliding door.
    Their interiors are sectioned into bathrooms along one sideThe interiors were sectioned into a bathroom along one side, a central bedroom and a kitchenette tucked behind the headboard wall.
    “In the furniture and interior decoration, we used organic materials from the region and different areas of the country, earth tones and grey contrasts, crafts, natural fibers, textiles, local wood and stone, recognizing Mexican handicraft talent and tradition,” the studio said.
    “The chukum finish on the interior walls gives an organic texture and helps keep the interiors cool in summer, while the exterior coating of recycled pine wood allows the cabins to be thermally insulated in both winter and summer for greater energy efficiency.”
    Small private gardens feature round jacuzzisThe cabins are all rotated to face a particular northern or eastern view without compromising privacy for the occupants.
    A small planted garden protected by a grey wall rings a quarter of each plan, terminated by a private in-ground jacuzzi, connected to the cabin by a wooden deck with planks that align with the vertical cladding boards as if the facade radiates down the wall and along the ground.
    Rooftop terraces are included atop each cabinUp a delicate metal spiral staircase with wooden treads, the round plan becomes a rooftop terrace complete with a rope net set into the roof of the porch like an integrated hammock.
    A free-swinging wooden bridge with rope netting guard rails is suspended from the roof of each cabin and leads to the roof of the common area, allowing guests to congregate in a central location.

    Dezeen’s top 10 cabins of 2023

    “The circular floor plan of the cabins, together with their transition spaces such as the hanging bridges, wooden paths and spiral staircases generate fluid and dynamic routes which allow us to reconnect with ourselves and awaken our inner child through play and movement,” the studio said.
    In addition to the material selection that responds thermally to the environment, the design works to preserve what little water the agricultural region has, reusing grey water for the irrigation of the vineyards.
    Zeuhary Hospedaje Campestre is positioned within a vineyardOther cabins recently completed in Mexico include a house deconstructed and separated for glamping within a forest in Nuevo León by S-AR and a brutalist cube-shaped holiday home tucked into a pine forest in Alférez by Ludwig Godefroy.
    The photography is by Jonatan Ruvalcaba Maciel unless otherwise stated. 
    Project credits:
    Architect: María José GutiérrezEngineering and construction: Specialized Urban Services

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      Takk perches communal bedroom on stilts in Madrid apartment renovation

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      Spanish architecture studio Takk has pulled back the walls of an apartment in Madrid to create an outdoor terrace alongside an insulated space that contains a bedroom on stilts.

      Takk removed all of the 110-square-metre flat’s interior walls to create a new 60-square-metre space enclosed with insulated pinewood walls, dubbed the winter house.
      This space contains an open-plan kitchen and living room as well as a self-enclosed bedroom perched on stilts, which is designed to be shared by a couple and their young daughter.
      Takk has pulled back the walls of a Madrid apartment to divide it into two spacesBoth the bedroom and the flat’s new exterior walls are made from low-carbon, heat-retaining materials, with pinewood frames sourced from Spain’s famed winemaking region of La Rioja and insulation made from duvets and charred cork.
      Takk nested the spaces in the winter house inside each other like the “layers of an onion” to retain heat and conserve energy during the colder months.

      Alongside the apartment, the studio created an exterior terrace by relocating the external walls and removing the previous north-facing windows.
      The apartment’s self-enclosed bedroom is raised on stiltsNamed the summer house, this space is connected to the inner areas of the home by sliding glass doors.
      According to the studio this arrangement eliminates the need for air-conditioning by passively cooling the interior and helping to lower the apartment’s carbon emissions in operation.
      Its door is hidden inside a book shelf”Climate change will modify all the routines of our existence,” Takk co-founder Mireia Luzárraga told Dezeen. “The way we think and build our environments should also adapt to this new situation.”
      “The project tests possible ways of organising a house to minimise energy consumption while using materials with a low carbon footprint.”
      From the outside, the door leading to the apartment looks like any other in the residential block. But on the interior of the flat, the entrance is hidden inside a built-in shelving system that runs along one side of the winter house.
      Surfaces throughout the apartment are clad in cork insulationA similar storage wall is mirrored on the other side of the open-plan space, forming a low counter that functions as a kitchen worktop on one side and a dining table and work desk on the other.
      Like most surfaces in the winter house, this is almost entirely clad in blackened cork panelling, which stores carbon and holds onto heat in the winter due to its colour and porous structure.
      In contrast, the summer house external space is finished with cement mortar, which doesn’t hold onto heat from the sun during the warmer months.
      An open-air terrace lies beyond the apartment’s pinewood wallsThis outdoor area consists of a narrow plant-filled porch that runs along the apartment’s entire north-facing wall to maximise natural light.
      At one end, it opens up into a covered terrace, separated from the interior by a pinewood wall with a row of tall vertical vents that can be opened to create a through-draft.
      In summer, the space can be shielded from the sun by an aluminium-foil thermal curtain normally used in greenhouses, while folding glass doors allow it to be turned into a kind of winter garden once temperatures drop.
      A communal outdoor bathtub is hidden behind a sheer pink curtainOn the other side of the folding doors lies a balcony housing a speckled bathtub, which is shielded from view only by a sheer pink gossamer curtain.
      This bathroom is designed to be used only in summer and by multiple members of the family at the same time, much like the open-plan living area and bedroom.

      Ten buildings on stilts that raise the stakes

      “The aim is to test the benefits, both energetic and emotional, of sleeping, playing or working together,” said Takk’s other half Alejandro Muiño.
      “In the past, rooms used to be bigger because they were communal and easier to heat. We want to recover this popular knowledge that was forgotten due to the emergence of cheap energy.”
      Vents in one of the terrace’s walls can be opened to create a draftThe stilted bedroom is the warmest part and the centrepiece of the home contained within the cork-panelled winter house and fitted with an extra layer of insulation in the form of duvets.
      These are strapped to the outside of the pinewood box alongside garlands of fake flowers, while huge stones from a quarry outside Madrid dangle from the ceiling, acting as a structural counterweight to prevent the thin wooden panel from bending.
      On the inside, the bedroom is entirely panelled in pinewood and split over two levels.
      The pinewood bedroom has two different levels”The advantages of sleeping together are countless, both for climatic and energy-saving reasons and for the reinforcement of emotional links,” Takk explained.
      “Elevating the bedroom also allows the kitchen to be more present in the daily routine of the residents because it is visible from any part of the house, which helps fight the gender and class cliches associated with these kinds of spaces.”
      The bedroom is fronted by sliding glass doorsAlthough elevated rooms such as this are rarely found in interiors, a number of architects have raised entire homes up on stilts in a bid to tread lightly on their surrounding environment.
      Dezeen has rounded up 10 of the most impressive examples, from a cork-clad cabin above a tidal salt marsh to a summer house perched on the rocky edge of a Norwegian island.
      The photography is by José Hevia.

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      EBBA Architects remodels London apartment with bespoke joinery

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      Structural ash and pine joinery – including a staircase, mezzanine and double-height storage wall – delineate the space within this refurbished, open-plan apartment in London by EBBA Architects.Located in an old matchstick factory in the city’s East End, the one-bedroom, 80-square-metre apartment belongs to a young professional couple, who asked the emerging local firm to “completely reimagine” its layout.

      The apartment features a bespoke wooden staircase, top image, and a double-height shelving unit, above
      The former plan featured subdividing walls, which created a small kitchen and lounge area, and a dark bedroom upstairs. An enclosed staircase took up almost a quarter of the floor space.
      EBBA Architects began by removing most of the walls and the large, existing staircase to provide a more functional and flexible living space.

      A dining area is tucked under the mezzanine

      The remodelled apartment is split across a ground floor and mezzanine level, both finished in a palette of subdued neutrals. A double-height living area is located downstairs alongside a dining room and kitchen, which are tucked under the mezzanine.
      Upstairs, a bedroom and en-suite bathroom sit next to a desk area, dressing room and a snug that doubles as a guest bedroom and can be sectioned off with a curving curtain.

      The staircase is made from white-stained ash
      “Key to the brief was extending the mezzanine to add space upstairs and rearrange the bedroom from the dark corner of the flat,” EBBA Architects founding director Benni Allan told Dezeen.
      “The need to extend the floor upstairs prompted us to imagine the new stair and mezzanine as a large, functional piece of furniture.”

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      Made from a slender framework of white-stained ash, the staircase helps to prop up the new joists to the mezzanine, which the architects left exposed.
      The apartment’s bespoke joinery also includes a double-height shelving unit made from white-stained pine that helps to emphasise the height of the main living space.

      The shelving system stands next to the open kitchen
      “We looked at the brief as a way of questioning how to provide a mix of spaces in the compact plan, including places to rest and work,” added Allan.
      “Budget was tight, so we maximised the potential to express features in the project through the joinery and exposing all the timber.”

      White-stained pinewood was used to create the storage unit
      According to the architects, the white-stained ash serves as a “soft background to the apartment”, which is in harmony with the interior’s other neutral-toned materials.
      This spans everything from the cement floor to the kitchen counter – a terrazzo-like slab made of translucent aggregate and fine black basalt – and is complemented by simple, unobtrusive lighting fixtures.
      Other interiors where furniture merges with structure include the Spinmolenplein penthouse in Ghent by Jürgen Vandewalle, where a “bed-cabinet”, kitchen island and boxed-in bathroom help organise the floor plan.
      Photography is by Benni Allan.

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