- Project: Studio House CHOI
- Architect: Cubo Rojo Arquitectura
- Location: Mexico, León, Guanajuato
- Year: 2016
- Area: 380 m2
- Photography: César Béjar Studio
A Living Gallery in León
In the vibrant city of León, Guanajuato, Studio House CHOI by Cubo Rojo Arquitectura re-imagines the concept of home as both sanctuary and exhibition space. Conceived for a client who is a painter, the residence blends private living with gallery-like expanses of light, material and spatial drama. At 380 m², the house subtly engages with its urban setting while asserting its identity as a sculptural object of dwelling.
Concept – Home Meets Art Space
The design responds directly to the client’s dual roles: creator and collector. The ground floor is conceived as a generous gallery-space, high in volume, where works of art can be displayed, light can be controlled, and visitors can move freely. Above and beyond is the more private domestic realm, structured with care so that living, working and display converge.
Instead of a typical façade, the house presents to the street as a deliberate object—solid in presence yet subtle in gesture. Inside, the movement from entrance to gallery to private spaces is choreographed: the visitor is elevated above grade, passes a grand stair, and is met with sweeping views and a sense of volume.
Spatial Organisation & Experience
Approaching the house, the pedestrian entry is raised ~1.6 m above street level, giving a view across the reservoir beyond—a specific client request and a symbolic moment of transition. Within, the gallery space opens with heightened ceilings and large skylights that bring daylight deep into the plan. The stair becomes both connector and sculptural element, slicing through space and permitting layered views.
On the upper level, bedrooms and more intimate spaces flank the double-height volume; one wing directly overlooks the gallery, while another addresses the street with visual autonomy. The circulation path is itself part of the spatial drama: descending from upper level to living terrace, the occupant experiences changes in scale, light quality and material.
Terraces and gardens extend the living experience outdoors, while a stone wall extracted from the site anchors the design in material and place.
Materiality & Atmosphere
Material discipline is key. The exterior uses raw concrete and large glass planes, giving the house a monolithic feel tempered by transparency. Internally, warm wood joinery and built-ins soften the concrete shells; natural stone and minimalist finishes ensure the art takes center stage.
The gallery space is deliberately neutral — white walls, controlled light, generous volume — allowing artworks to become the focus. The living spaces, in contrast, use texture, warmth and material transitions to create calm, inhabitable moments.
Light is treated as architecture: skylights, clerestories, double-height voids, and carefully placed openings compose a symphony of daylight that changes throughout the day. At dusk, internal lights reflect off glass and concrete, turning the house into a luminous object in the neighbourhood.
Integration with Site & Environment
While the house has the presence of a gallery, it is firmly rooted in its context. The elevated entry not only offers a view but provides privacy from street level. The building mass steps and terraces respond to the slope and orientation of the site, optimizing light while controlling privacy.
Landscaping is integrated: the transition from terrace to garden is seamless, the stone wall from the site acts as both boundary and feature, and indoor-outdoor relationships are carefully handled. The gallery zone opens to a terrace and descending steps that merge with the garden below, extending living into nature.
In a climate and urban fabric that can favour fortress-style homes, Studio House CHOI offers a balanced composition — open yet secure, sculptural yet inhabitable.
Why This Project Matters
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The blending of art gallery and family home is executed with clarity and precision — few residences achieve this with such spatial refinement.
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The spatial sequence from gallery to living to terrace demonstrates an architectural narrative of movement, light and experience.
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Material choices and detailing reinforce the concept: raw structure becomes canvas, interior surfaces become backdrop, and living becomes exhibition.
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It offers a model for how high-design residential architecture can exist in provincial Mexican cities — ambitious, context-aware, and refined.
Studio House CHOI by Cubo Rojo Arquitectura stands as a quiet yet powerful statement in contemporary Mexican residential design. It is not merely a home—it is a platform for living, creating and displaying; for gathering and retreating. With sculptural presence, intelligent materiality and a choreography of space and light, it transcends its program to become architecture of experience.
For those seeking to understand how form, function and feeling may converge in a private commission, this house offers profound lessons.
