- Project: Water House
- Architect: Di Frenna Arquitectos
- Location: Mexico, Colima
- Year: 2021
- Area: 940 m2
- Photography: Oscar Hernandez
A Tropical Sanctuary Defined by Water and Light
In the lush tropical climate of Colima, Water House (La Casa del Agua) by Di Frenna Arquitectos is a masterpiece of fluid modern living, where architecture, nature, and water exist in perfect balance. Designed for a family that desired constant connection with the outdoors, the home embraces the region’s humidity, sunlight, and greenery through a spatial composition that is open, light, and deeply responsive to place.
“The project was conceived as a house that could open completely to the outside,” notes Di Frenna Arquitectos. “Its essence lies in living with water, vegetation, and light at all times.”
Concept: A Dialogue Between Architecture and Climate
The residence emerges from a U-shaped floor plan, oriented to protect privacy while framing a central courtyard dominated by a radiant swimming pool. This geometry is both functional and poetic—shielding the home from the intense tropical sun while capturing cross-breezes, reflections, and lush views from every room.
At the heart of the home stands a Primavera tree, its yellow blossoms mirrored in the pool’s blue expanse. Around it, the architecture unfolds in soft rhythms of openness and shelter, connecting interiors with terraces, gardens, and shaded walkways.
The name Water House reflects more than a feature—it defines an entire lifestyle philosophy, celebrating fluidity, reflection, and serenity as core spatial experiences.
Spatial Organization: Fluid and Layered
Water House unfolds across three levels, each carefully orchestrated to balance openness and intimacy:
Ground Floor — The Heart of Living
Entering through a transparent axis, visitors experience a continuous free plan that blends the living room, dining area, kitchen, terrace, and bar into a single, flowing space.
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The main bedroom occupies a secluded wing, with direct access to the pool and garden, creating a private retreat within the open composition.
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Double-height glazing floods the interiors with natural light while maintaining uninterrupted sightlines toward the courtyard.
A suspended bridge runs above the central axis, connecting the private spaces while offering panoramic views of the garden and pool below.
Upper Floor — Privacy in Elevation
The upper level hosts the secondary bedrooms, connected by the floating bridge and each featuring private terraces shaded by screen lattices. These terraces become extensions of daily life, where one can relax in a hammock, surrounded by sunlight, breeze, and the sound of water.
Basement — Social Retreat
Below ground, the basement houses a cinema and bar, forming the social nucleus for gatherings. Despite being subterranean, these spaces are bright and comfortable, thanks to careful daylight filtering and an efficient ventilation strategy.
Materiality: Warmth and Craft in a Modern Frame
The material palette fuses natural warmth with structural strength, reflecting both Colima’s tropical climate and Di Frenna’s characteristic balance of elegance and earthiness:
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Parota wood: used extensively in ceilings, furniture, and joinery, infusing interiors with local identity.
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Blanco Galarza stone: lines walls and floors, enhancing brightness and tactile quality.
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White terrazzo and concrete: provide continuity and lightness.
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Steel and glass: used in structural elements and the striking black spiral staircase, which doubles as a sculptural centerpiece.
These materials—honest, raw, and beautifully finished—work in harmony to evoke the emotion of tropical warmth while maintaining an atmosphere of refined modernity.
Light, Shade, and Water
Throughout the house, light is modulated through latticed panels that cast rhythmic patterns across walls and floors. This interplay of shadow and transparency animates every surface, echoing the fluid movement of water.
The pool is not an accessory—it is the architectural core. Visible from nearly every room, it reflects light deep into the interior, cools the air, and acts as a living, breathing organism within the home. As sunlight filters through leaves and ripples on the surface, it paints the architecture in ever-changing hues of blue, gold, and green.
Structure & Climate Responsiveness
Designed for Colima’s tropical-humid conditions, the home utilizes cross-ventilation, deep overhangs, and natural shading to minimize heat gain. The mixed concrete-and-steel structure allows large spans and cantilevers, enabling open interiors without sacrificing stability.
The spiral staircase, constructed from blackened ironwork, serves both as an aesthetic focus and a structural solution, unifying the vertical circulation while maintaining openness.
A Living Experience of Reflection
Water House epitomizes Di Frenna Arquitectos’ sensitivity to context—an architecture that blurs boundaries between the human and the natural, between solidity and flow. It is at once a modern villa and a tropical refuge, where design celebrates the sensuality of materials, the calm of water, and the joy of light.
This is not a house to observe; it is a house to feel—to inhabit the rhythm of the sun, the breeze, and the reflections that dance upon its white surfaces.
