Villa Cava / Espacio 18 Arquitectura
- Place :
445 m²
year :
2023
Manufacturers: Cemex, Interceramic
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Lead Architect:
Caty and Pato
The text description provided by the architects. Villa Cava combines luxury with nature. Located in the middle of the Mayan jungle in Aldea Zamá, Tulum. The villa was created by Espacio18 Arquitectura, in collaboration with Adrian and Andrea, a young couple from Ottawa, Canada. The inspiration came from the mysterious Cenote Suytun in Yucatan that captured their hearts, and they decided to create a home that embodies the natural beauty and spatial quality of the region.
Villa Cava is a sensory experience, designed to offer a unique and unforgettable stay for guests. The project was created with the goal of bringing people together in a space that offers rest, inspiration, and personal growth. The villa features an architectural concept inspired by a cave (cenote) with natural overhead lighting provided by a glass-bottom pool. Luxury is provided through nature, providing a connection with the surrounding environment.
The house was carefully designed to blend into the existing landscape. Building regulations and existing trees have influenced the house’s outline, while jungle views have been taken into account to ensure complete privacy. The brutalist-inspired fortress is made of raw wood concrete, which slowly unravels to reveal itself as a carved sculpture. The materials were chosen to match the immediate context, taking into account the humid and rainy climate, as well as the potential for storms.
The interior design of Villa Cava, created by Kayla Pongrac, is a sight to behold. This transforms the project into a superb residential, hospitality grade home. The house is a habitable sculpture, discovered through a concrete portal built around two existing mature trees leading to the lobby area. This area is illuminated from above by a pool, giving a warm welcome to the effects of water and light on the walls.
The ground floor boasts a study, an open-concept chef’s kitchen, and a large social area that opens directly onto a swim-up pool. The spaces are designed to be explored in a multi-sensory way, with height changes that force the user before opening to reveal different areas. Upstairs is the private area, with bedrooms and a master with soaring 30-foot ceilings and carefully placed skylights that bathe the room in natural light. The 20 ft by 20 ft single pane square window creates a natural “living painting” with unobstructed jungle views.
On the rooftop, a second private outdoor seating area has been created, taking full advantage of the spectacular views of the front jungle reserve. Villa Cava is a place where people from different parts of the world can come together to live and socialize or remain independent in the different spaces created in the project.
The house is the result of the collaboration of many talented people, including a local landscaping company, contractors, local artisans, and many others who made this project possible. Every fixture, brick, window, and appliance is sourced from Mexico, giving the home an authentic sense of place. Adrian’s vision is to create a real estate fund that will develop luxury villas throughout Mexico and the world, combining architecture, function, and human-centric design to create short-term luxury rentals for people looking for unique multi-sensory experiences. Villa Cava is just the beginning of a bigger dream, and it serves as an inspiration to architects and designers around the world.
