Casa La Vista by MEDEZA + CDQ + VERTEBRAL is a residence in San José del Cabo, Mexico, organized as three low wings around desert gardens, shaded terraces, and a southeast-facing social volume that frames the meeting of desert, ocean, and sky.
Casa La Vista Technical Information
- ArchitectsMEDEZA + CDQ + VERTEBRAL
- LocationSan José del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico
- Gross Area932 m2 | 10,032 Sq. Ft.
- Project Years2026
- Photographs© Cesar Belio
In a challenging climate for both space and materials, our primary design focus was the creation of a substantial roof, a generous element that brings life to the various wings of the residence and enables the architecture to engage in dialogue with the desert through synergy rather than resistance.
– MEDEZA + CDQ + VERTEBRAL
Desert Topography and Coastal Orientation
Casa La Vista occupies a cliffside position above the arid terrain of Baja California Sur, where the desert descends toward the coast of San José del Cabo. Its southeast orientation is not incidental. The plan and principal openings are calibrated toward the line where sea, sky, coastline, and distant mountains converge, giving the horizon a structuring role in the house’s spatial experience.
Rather than presenting itself as an autonomous object on the site, the residence works through compression, horizontality, and partial concealment. From the street, a long Santa Catarina quarry-stone wall establishes a measured public edge, interrupted only by roofline elements, a pergola, and chimney volumes. This restrained elevation contrasts with the openness of the interior world, where the terrain, pool, courtyards, and ocean views are progressively revealed.
The architecture acknowledges the visual and climatic severity of the setting. Low volumes align with the dune-like ground and avoid excessive verticality, while stone surfaces bring the region’s color and texture into the building envelope. The house is therefore less a statement against the landscape than a sequence of constructed thresholds within it.
Three-Wing Plan and Longitudinal Movement
The plan is organized as three wings linked by a longitudinal axis that clarifies movement from arrival to social space. This axis is both practical and perceptual: it guides circulation, frames distant views, and connects discrete domestic programs without reducing the house to a single open volume. The result is a readable sequence of compressed passages, planted courtyards, shaded galleries, and outward-facing communal areas.
Two of the wings contain five bedroom suites arranged around a desert garden. This courtyard is not treated as residual space between rooms, but as the central spatial mediator of the private areas. Covered walkways, rough stone piers, and planted beds establish a rhythm of enclosure and release, transforming circulation into an experience of shade, vegetation, and shifting views.
The third wing houses the communal areas of the house, including the kitchen, dining, lounge, terrace, pool, and outdoor rooms. Here, the longitudinal order culminates in broad openings and extended sightlines. In the dining space, sliding walls open on both sides, connecting the pool terrace to the entry court and allowing the long table to occupy an architectural threshold rather than a sealed interior room.
Roof, Shade, and Climatic Mediation
The roof is the main climatic and compositional device of Casa La Vista. Its broad horizontal planes bind the three wings into a coherent whole while producing shaded outdoor rooms suited to the desert environment. From the pool terrace, the thin cantilevered edge reads as a precise counterpoint to the mass of the stone walls below, separating shelter from enclosure.
Large overhangs temper solar exposure on terraces, glazed openings, and exterior circulation routes. This is particularly significant in a climate where the boundary between inside and outside cannot be resolved through transparency alone. Shade becomes the condition that makes openness viable, allowing the house to extend daily life toward the courtyard, pool, and desert without abandoning environmental protection.
The operable glass walls support cross ventilation along the central axis. When open, air moves among the entry court, planted courtyard, dining gallery, lounge, and terrace, cooling intermediate spaces and reducing reliance on mechanical conditioning. The strategy is architectural rather than technological in emphasis: orientation, shade, mass, and airflow are orchestrated as part of the spatial order.
Material Continuity and Endemic Landscape
Material selection reinforces the relationship between the house and its terrain. Santa Catarina quarry stone forms a heavy, textured envelope whose tones align with the surrounding desert. In the social wing, Puebla travertine introduces a lighter surface, especially in the dining and kitchen areas, where its veining and luminosity contrast with the more rugged exterior masonry.
Ojinaga stone flooring and unstained Rosa Morada wood complete a restrained palette based on mass, grain, and natural color. The wood cabinetry, wine wall, kitchen island base, and built-in elements avoid heavy applied finishes, allowing the carpentry to register as a warmer counterweight to stone. This material balance prevents the interiors from becoming visually detached from the exterior shell.
The landscape is integrated with similar discipline. Endemic vegetation, including cardon cacti, agaves, grasses, prickly pear, and palo blanco trees, is arranged to shape movement and perception. Planting modulates thresholds, casts filtered shade, and adds depth to the courtyards without relying on ornamental excess. In the bedroom terraces and central garden, the domestic scale of the house meets the slower temporal register of desert growth.
About MEDEZA + CDQ + VERTEBRAL
MEDEZA + CDQ + VERTEBRAL are credited as the authors of Casa La Vista, a 2026 residence located in San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico. For this project, their architectural approach centers on a substantial roof, three connected wings, endemic desert gardens, local stone, shaded terraces, and cross-ventilation strategies that allow the house to engage with the desert climate and coastal horizon.
Credits and Additional Notes
- Structural engineers: MD Estructural
- MEP consultants: HVAC: Loubet Partes y Climas; Data and Voice: Isidro Noyola
- Construction company: Querencia Construcciones
- Principal Architects: Francisco Parra, Elias Kalach, Teddy Nanes;
- Lead Team: Karla Llorens, Paola Castilla;
- Design Team: Dennis Martinez, Mauricio Rios, Gerardo Aguero, Isabella Turquie, Marco Agonizante, Enrique Gonzalez, Daniela Lopez, Leticia Matsuda, Carlos Castro, Pedro Barajas;
- Technical Team: Roberto Hernandez, Vanessa Ramirez, Elsa Mendoza, Fatima Alvarado, Roberto Valezzi, Omar Machucho, Francisco Garduno;
- Lighting Design: Ilumplan
- Solar Panels: Innovación Solar
- Photography: Cesar Belio
