Yucatán Beach Retreat
Akumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico
After more than ten years, the owners of the beach villa in Akumal decided it was time to complete their dream. In the time since the first structure was built, a 5-story, illegal condominium had been built right along the north lot line. One of the main objectives of the new house was to diminish the impact of this behemoth. We decided to locate much of the house right up against this building, and orient it both toward the ocean and toward a pool and deck that acted as the focal point between the new and old structures. All the while, views and breezes were to be maintained in the original house, and a majority of the site’s natural vegetation was to be protected. These constraints offered us a fairly defined area of where the house could be situated, and the remainder of the problem was arranging public and private spaces, maintaining a seamless flow between interior and exterior spaces, and ensuring that a view of the ocean, and the breezes that follow, were never more than a turn of the head away.
