Mesoamerican Modern

Ancient Ideas in Contemporary Mexican Homes

A stunning survey of contemporary Mexican houses shaped by Mesoamerican ideas, revealing a vibrant design movement rooted in the history, landscape, and craft of Mexico’s oldest civilizations

A stunning survey of contemporary Mexican houses shaped by Mesoamerican ideas, revealing a vibrant design movement rooted in the history, landscape, and craft of Mexico’s oldest civilizations

Mesoamerican Modern is the first book to explore the pre-Hispanic traditions at the heart of contemporary Mexican interior design, revealing how architects and designers across the country draw on the wisdom and aesthetics of its ancient cultures.

This lushly illustrated volume presents sixteen remarkable homes that exemplify this movement. Rather than reproducing classical European archetypes, they reinterpret pre-Hispanic forms and patterns with striking originality. Rooms follow the geometry of pyramids, feature tunnel-like volcanic stone entrances, or remain open to the sky. Water channels cut through living areas, gardens merge seamlessly with indoor spaces, and light and shadow are treated as materials in their own right.

Featured projects include a house with flooded walkways in the yellow town of Izamal, an elevated beach home with no exterior doors, a monastic retreat beside a waterfall, and the studio that a renowned architect built for his mother, the photographer Graciela Iturbide. Sites such as Casa Pedregal, by famed architect Luis Barragán, anchor the book in the lineage of Mexico’s great Modernists, while newer homes, including several never before published , show how Mesoamerican ideas continue to drive some of the most inventive residential designs today.

Interspersed throughout the book are visual field guides exploring themes such as pattern, native flora, and collecting, offering readers a deeper understanding of cultural influences.

Authored by curator, journalist, and writer Su Wu – a leading advocate for Mexican design – and filled with more than 400 exquisite photographs shot specifically for the book by acclaimed Mexican photographer Luis Garvan, Mesoamerican Modern demonstrates that the future of design is being rewritten in Mexico.

Contributor: Luis Garvan (By (photographer)), Elena Reygadas (Contributions by)

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