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Residential ArchitectureFeatured Houses

Featured Houses

House Between Two Rivers by Sebastián Mancera + Taller 3000

Acatitlán, Mexico

By RECORD Editors
House Between Two Rivers

Photo © César Béjar

April 29, 2025

Architects & Firms

Sebastián Mancera + Taller 3000
✕
Image in modal.

Location: Acatitlán, Valle de Bravo, Mexico
Project size: 7,000 square feet

Program: House Between Two Rivers is situated in a sloped clearing on a bosky ridge between, as its name suggests, two rivers—one to the north and the other to the south. Designed for a couple and their three adult children, this weekend house will one day become a home to retire in.

Design Solution: House Between Two Rivers nestles into the site’s slope, holding back earth with 16-foot-high retaining walls of bush-hammered concrete. Because of this siting, one arrives at the dwelling from the roof, where only three walls—each an element in a different wing of the house—are visible. (One wing contains the living space and the kitchen, another features a series of bedrooms, and the last shapes a small courtyard with a guest suite.)

An exterior stair leads residents beneath a cantilevered beam and down to the main level, where the living space, running parallel to the ridge and lined with a wall of bi-folding doors trimmed in Spanish cedar, faces west. The kitchen is tucked underground. Hidden behind shrubbery, the swimming pool is farther down the slope, as are the bedrooms, accessed internally through a trapezoidal stair. These rooms, oriented toward the south and built of cinderblock rendered with a thin coat of concrete, are punctuated by a trio of small planted lightwells. .

House Between Two Rivers by Sebastián Mancera and Taller 3000

Photo © César Béjar

Structure and Materials: The large concrete retaining walls provide thermal mass. On cold nights, the concrete then radiates heat and keeps the house warm without any supplemental systems. Water is pumped from a nearby spring and the house is off the grid, making use of nearby solar panels.

Additional Information
Completion date: April 2024
Site size: 2.5 acres
Total construction cost: Withheld
Client/Owner: Withheld
House Between Two Rivers by Sebastián Mancera and Taller 3000
House Between Two Rivers by Sebastián Mancera and Taller 3000
House Between Two Rivers by Sebastián Mancera and Taller 3000
House Between Two Rivers by Sebastián Mancera and Taller 3000
House Between Two Rivers by Sebastián Mancera and Taller 3000
House Between Two Rivers by Sebastián Mancera and Taller 3000
House Between Two Rivers by Sebastián Mancera and Taller 3000
House Between Two Rivers by Sebastián Mancera and Taller 3000
House Between Two Rivers by Sebastián Mancera and Taller 3000
House Between Two Rivers by Sebastián Mancera and Taller 3000
House Between Two Rivers by Sebastián Mancera and Taller 3000
House Between Two Rivers by Sebastián Mancera and Taller 3000
House Between Two Rivers by Sebastián Mancera and Taller 3000

Photos © Photo © César Béjar

House Between Two Rivers by Sebastián Mancera and Taller 3000
House Between Two Rivers by Sebastián Mancera and Taller 3000
House Between Two Rivers by Sebastián Mancera and Taller 3000
House Between Two Rivers by Sebastián Mancera and Taller 3000
House Between Two Rivers by Sebastián Mancera and Taller 3000
House Between Two Rivers by Sebastián Mancera and Taller 3000

Images courtesy Sebastián Mancera + Taller 3000; click to enlarge

Credits

Architect
Sebastián Mancera + Taller 3000
Gob. Luis G Vieyra 38
San Miguel Chapultepec, Mexico City, Mexico
www.taller3000.com

Project Team
Principal: Sebastián Mancera

Associate architect
Calli Arquitectura
Anahuac 31
Roma Sur, CDMX 06760
www.calli-mx.com

Engineers
Structural: Taller AE
M/e/p: Ingeniería MRG

General contractor: Grupo CM

Photographer
César Béjar

Specifications

Exterior Cladding
Wood: WeTimber
Moisture barrier: Sika

Windows
Wood frame: WeTimber

Doors
Wood doors: Oscar Nieto
Spanish Cedar bi-folding doors: WeTimber

Hardware
Locksets: Arrone
Door levers: Hoppe
Hinges: Tectus

Interior Finishes
Cabinetwork and custom woodwork: Oscar Nieto
Floor and wall tile: Talavera Cortés

Furnishings
Dining Tables, sofa: Seb3000

Lighting
Dimming system or other lighting controls: Leviton

Plumbing
Faucets: American Standard
Showerheads: Helvex
Basins: Kohler
Toilets: Interceramic

KEYWORDS: Mexico modern residential architecture

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