An author-designed residential home in Mexico is a building that began with this site, this family, and this brief — and could not have come from anywhere else. Una casa de autor is the direct opposite of a typological product. It is designed from the conditions of the project, not applied from a catalog of successful precedents.
What Author Design Means in Practice
The term "author architecture" is sometimes used loosely to mean that a named architect was involved. In MÉTODO, it means something more specific: the principal architect is the primary designer from the first site visit to the last construction administration review.
This has structural implications for the practice. We take four projects per year. Not because demand is limited — because involvement cannot be diluted without compromising what the work is.
In Mexico City, author-designed residential work tends to concentrate on three conditions:
- Compact urban lots where every decision about patio placement, floor-to-ceiling heights, and aperture sizing produces a disproportionate effect on how the house feels
- Complex topography in the southern delegaciones and the hillside areas of the metropolitan zone, where the section is the primary design instrument
- Renovation and expansion of existing structures where the design problem is as much about diagnosis as invention
Each of these conditions requires a different methodology. None allows a template.
The Site Before the Brief
In MÉTODO, we require a site visit before developing a design proposal. The site tells us what the brief cannot.
Asoleamiento — the study of sun movement — determines which rooms face which direction, how deep the roof overhangs must be to provide shade in summer without eliminating winter light, and whether a patio receives usable morning light or is in shadow until noon.
For Mexico City, solar angles are lower than most of Mexico's beach destinations but higher than most European cities. The sun moves significantly between the summer and winter solstices. A roof overhang that works in June is often not the same one that works in December.
The ground also holds information. Soil type, bearing capacity, existing structures, drainage patterns — these shape the structural strategy and, consequently, the spatial options available to the design.
The Patio as Organizer in Mexican Residential Architecture
The patio como organizador — the patio as organizing element — is one of the most powerful spatial strategies in Mexican residential architecture. It is not decorative. It is functional and climatic.
A central patio creates a regulated microclimate: it is cooler than the street in summer because it is shaded by the surrounding building, and it warms quickly in winter because its sky opening is sized for winter sun. It provides light and natural ventilation to rooms that would otherwise rely on mechanical systems.
In a compact urban lot, the patio may be the only way to bring light to interior-facing rooms without sacrificing floor area. Its position — central, lateral, rooftop — determines the entire spatial sequence of the house.
Materialidad Honesta in Mexican Context
Mexico has a rich tradition of material specificity in residential architecture. Volcanic stone — tezontle and cantera — has been used structurally and as cladding for centuries. Exposed concrete has a long history in the country's modern architecture. Hardwood from domestic species has a depth and warmth that imported or engineered alternatives cannot replicate.
In MÉTODO, honest materiality means specifying materials that express what they are and that perform correctly in the specific climate of the site. Mexico City's alternating dry season and rainy season requires materials that tolerate humidity cycling without degrading. Coastal and mountain projects add UV intensity, salt air, or freeze-thaw cycling to the specification equation.
The material palette is not chosen at the end of the design process. It is established in design development and tested against the climatic, structural, and maintenance conditions of the specific project.
Próximos pasos
Every authored home begins with a site and a conversation. Not with a style.
Conoce el método de MÉTODO and see how the design process for a residential project in Mexico unfolds from the first site visit to the final construction document.