Casa Mulix by Arkham Projects
Casa Mulix stands in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico as a house conceived around air, shade, and layered courtyards. Designed by Arkham Projects, the residence organizes three levels around a central void that pulls light and greenery into daily circulation. Every move or pause moves past vegetation, terraces, and shifting volumes that open for views or close for privacy, giving the home a calm but dynamic rhythm through the day.
A broad stair rises through vegetation toward a quiet facade volume that hovers over the ground level. Light grazes the planes of this upper block, turning it into a lantern after dark as it shifts from solid presence by day to glowing shade at night.
Casa Mulix is a house in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico, designed by Arkham Projects around a central courtyard that anchors every level. The project works through alignment and sequence, using a triple-height lateral patio, side gardens, and deep overhangs to choreograph how people move, look out, and find privacy. Daily life threads between open terraces and more contained rooms, always with a view into greenery or sky.
Arriving Through Vegetation
Approach begins at the generous stair that cuts upward through lush planting. Each step slows the arrival, bringing tree canopies and shrubs to eye level before the entry threshold. At the top, a compact exterior hallway turns circulation into a small outdoor episode, sending one route toward the living and dining rooms and another to the lateral terrace that runs along the house.
Courtyard As Organizing Void
Inside, the main protagonist is the large lateral courtyard that carves a triple height between volumes. This vertical void visually stitches together the underground level, the ground floor, and the upper rooms while drawing daylight deep into the plan. Many rooms look directly into this patio, so everyday routines cross paths with a constant view of foliage, the English courtyard, and a slice of open sky.
Social Rooms Opening Both Ways
The social area groups living room, dining room, and kitchen so they can work as one long room or be separated when needed. When all partitions slide back, air and sightlines run from one side garden to the other, creating a cross-ventilated volume anchored by green views rather than walls. On the east and west edges, framed openings act as deep borders that either widen toward the landscape or narrow to filter views of neighboring lots.
Bridges, Gardens, And Depth
Circulation around the courtyard turns into a sequence of bridges and edges, not just corridors. Walking outside, residents cross an outdoor bridge with a garden on one side and an English courtyard on the other, always held between plants and sky. The triple height lets the underground level share this connection, so even rooms below grade keep contact with light and planting rather than feeling sealed.
Orienting Light And Privacy
Orientation drives how each facade opens or closes to the climate and surroundings. On the north and south sides, compact overhangs temper sunlight and rain while still granting soft daylight to the interiors. East and west elevations adjust more dramatically, sometimes opening toward the natural landscape and sometimes tightening to frame vegetation while screening nearby buildings.
By night, the elevated front volume reads as a single glowing element above the grounded base. Courtyards, terraces, and bridges keep movement tied to air and planting, so even routine paths carry glimpses of sky and green surfaces. Casa Mulix settles into its plot through this careful sequence, turning circulation into an ongoing encounter with light, shade, and vertical depth.
Photography courtesy of Arkham Projects
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