- Project: Taloel House
- Architect: Zozaya Arquitectos
- Location: Mexico, Troncones, Guerrero
- Year: 2023
- Area: 520 m2
- Photography: César Béjar
A Coastal Haven Merging Earth, Light, and Sea
Situated along the Pacific coast in the laid-back surf town of Troncones, the Taloel House by Zozaya Arquitectos is a poetic expression of tropical living — where architecture, landscape, and ocean become one continuous experience.
Designed for a family seeking a peaceful refuge in nature, the project blends raw materiality with refined spatial composition. It embodies the studio’s signature philosophy: architecture that grows from the land, balancing craftsmanship, context, and climate.
Concept: Earth-Born Minimalism
The concept for Taloel House began with the idea of creating a home that feels handmade and rooted in the coastal terrain. The design draws inspiration from the textures and tones of the site — sand, clay, stone, and vegetation — while maintaining a minimalist and contemporary form.
The architects envisioned a series of open-air pavilions, interwoven with gardens and water elements, rather than a single enclosed structure. This arrangement promotes natural ventilation, shade, and a constant dialogue between inside and out.
The home is not meant to dominate its surroundings but to dissolve into them — a structure that invites wind, salt, and light to shape its daily rhythms.
Spatial Organization and Layout
Taloel House unfolds across a gently sloping site that descends toward the ocean, offering uninterrupted views of the horizon. The program is distributed through three interconnected volumes, linked by covered walkways and lush courtyards.
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Main Pavilion: The social core — a double-height living and dining area with an exposed timber roof and open façades that face the sea.
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Private Wing: Bedrooms are set slightly apart, oriented for privacy and cross-ventilation. Each suite opens to a private terrace and garden, ensuring independence while maintaining connection to the whole.
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Outdoor Spaces: A swimming pool, shaded terrace, and outdoor kitchen form the heart of daily life, designed for leisure, gathering, and contemplation.
Circulation weaves fluidly between open and sheltered zones, blurring distinctions between architecture and landscape.
Materiality: Raw and Refined
Zozaya Arquitectos is known for their mastery of tactile, organic materials, and Taloel House continues this lineage. The palette is warm, sensory, and distinctly local:
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Walls: Cast-in-place concrete tinted with natural pigments to echo the tones of the soil.
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Floors: Polished concrete and handmade clay tiles.
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Structure: Exposed timber beams and palm-wood detailing.
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Roofs: Palapa-style palm thatch combined with concrete slabs for shade and insulation.
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Accents: Blackened steel and handcrafted ceramic lighting fixtures.
This combination yields a tactile richness that engages both eye and hand — materials that will age beautifully with the sea air.
Climate Design and Passive Comfort
Taloel House was designed around natural climate performance rather than mechanical systems. The open layout promotes constant cross-ventilation, while deep overhangs and operable wooden screens filter sunlight and control glare.
The orientation of the house maximizes ocean breezes, and the placement of water bodies — the pool, a reflecting pond, and small fountains — enhances microclimatic cooling.
Through these strategies, the house remains comfortable throughout the year while consuming minimal energy — a modern interpretation of vernacular tropical wisdom.
Experience and Atmosphere
Inside, the mood is meditative and elemental. The interplay of shadow, texture, and light animates every surface — walls glow softly at sunrise and take on the hue of the sea at dusk. The sound of waves becomes the house’s constant rhythm, uniting all spaces through sensory continuity.
Furniture and decor are custom-designed in local woods and woven fibers, reinforcing the handmade character of the architecture. The overall feeling is effortless luxury, where comfort arises from simplicity and craftsmanship rather than excess.
At night, the home opens entirely to the warm coastal air, revealing the Milky Way above — a reminder that architecture here is not an enclosure but a frame for experience.
A Contemporary Vision of Coastal Living
Taloel House exemplifies Zozaya Arquitectos’ ongoing exploration of contextual minimalism — architecture that responds to place through emotion and material truth.
In Troncones, the studio has distilled its coastal vocabulary to its purest form: rough textures, open air, elemental geometry, and timeless connection to the Pacific.
It is both a retreat and a statement, demonstrating how contemporary Mexican architecture can remain deeply rooted in tradition while embracing the serenity of modern living.
