Hidden Treasure

Mexico’s most revered architect designs a remote family hideaway in Careyes.

text by: Nancy A. Ruhling

July 1, 2005

It was another Aldaco-designed home that first enchanted Triton’s owner, prompting him to build the two villas. “I was spending the weekend there on business with friends,” he says. “I saw the house, which had been designed by Aldaco, under a full moon, when it was raining. And I fell in love instantly.
 
I decided at that time that if I ever do something here, I would do it with Aldaco. He’s more artist than architect.”

The pair of houses, which are set in a protected wilderness area and are surrounded by a huge garden overflowing with more than 300 cacti and some 1,000 bougainvillea, are virtually cut off from the world; Careyes is the only notable locale between Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo. The only other place in the vicinity that offers a semblance of civilization is a postage-stamp of a village called Zapata that is so tiny, you wouldn’t find it unless you were looking. (Click image to enlarge)
 
“It’s a great place to be quiet,” the owner says, adding that the residents, like the careyes (another word for turtle), can shut themselves up in their own shells if they so desire. “I’ve traveled a lot, and it’s one of the most impressive places on the sea that I know.  You’re out of the world. Once I’m there, I forget about everything else.”The family, whose other homes are in London and Geneva, lives by the swimming pool, a sculptural creation that Aldaco designed to follow the contours of the land. “You never have to dress up,” the owner says. “We are in polo shirts and shorts most of the time, and in jeans in the evening. One bathing suit is all you need for two weeks.” After a day of recreation that can include such activities as polo, tennis, fishing, hunting, boating and horseback riding, the family dines on the flower-filled terrace, where candlelight creates a soft glow. Alcoves in each bedroom make cozy hovels for before-bedtime reading.

Casa Triton, which takes its name from the Greek god of the sea, is surrounded by a 30,000-acre nature preserve. (Click image to enlarge)

There is no glass in the shuttered windows, which allows for unfettered views of the land, sea and wildlife. “It’s a wilderness, and the open design of the house makes you feel like you’re a part of it,” says the owner. “Sometimes, I just watch the flocks of pelicans flying by. There are also scorpions, crocodiles and pumas . . . but I’ve never seen a puma.” Although he first saw Careyes during a raging rainstorm, the area gets only 21 days of rainfall, between July and September, each year. “The water temperature is always 82 degrees,” he says.

The home was designed not only to connect with its surroundings but also to commune with it. Says Aldaco: “My theory is that houses should be contemporary, regional, original and without complication in form.  They should be logical and joyous and easy to clean up.”Although Casa Triton looks like it sprang up out of the water at the sound of the god’s conch shell, Aldaco went to great lengths to make sure that he placed it in exactly the right spot. “I communicated with the soil, nature and with the view,” he says, and recalls walking the property with an assistant, who marked the boundaries with white cement. “I searched for optical relations and I measured the levels of the sun and shade in different areas.” 
BR>The design of Casa Triton places a premium on privacy: The 6,000-square-foot complex is comprised of six separate bungalows, three of which serve as the home’s sleeping quarters: Triton, Orguidea Azul (or Blue Orchids) and Flor de Luna (or Moon Flower) are joined only by paths that, according to the owner, are designed to “begin and end nowhere.”

The palm leaf–thatched palapas were sited to take advantage of water views from all sides. (Click image to enlarge)

The interior of Casa Triton also reflects this design philosophy, as Aldaco designed most of the furniture. “One of the very important things in my work is the communion between interior and exterior spaces,” he says. “I make sure that the terraces, the furniture and windows are all in a natural order so that they are in sync with the rocks, the sea, the beaches and the mountains.” The result is a space so welcoming, so relaxing that the owner, who recently retired, cannot wait to spend more than his usual four weeks per year at Casa Triton. “I love the storms,” he says. “I love to read a book by the light of the lightning during a storm. It’s like Wagner. If you like Mozart, you go to the Caribbean.”