A courtyard with a swimming pool lies at the heart of this inward-facing dwelling in northern Mexico by architecture studio Cadaval & Solà-Morales.

Casa Ombra is 608-square-metre house located in San Pedro Garza Garcia, a town within the sprawling metropolis of Monterrey.

The all-white dwelling, which sits on a gently sloping site, was designed by Cadaval & Solà-Morales, a studio with offices in Mexico City and Barcelona.

The property is approximately square in plan and "inscribed within an almost perfect cube". Portions of the cube were subtracted to form patios, a carport and other open spaces that allow for inhabitation.

At the centre of the dwelling is an enclosed courtyard with a terrace and swimming pool. The double-height courtyard is covered with white slats that help mitigate solar heat gain while still allowing natural light to filter in.

The slats also "contain the space and provide it with a porous limit that allows us to feel protected in an interior-exterior space," the firm said.

The courtyard is connected to the public areas on the main floor, including a kitchen, dining area and living room. Glazed, sliding doors help eliminate the boundary between inside and out.

The main floor is one level above the street, which enables greater thermal comfort and a heightened level of privacy. The team was able to incorporate big openings that are not viewable from the road.

The top floor, which overlooks the courtyard, contains three bedrooms and a studio. Windows and terraces enable occupants to take in views of the Sierra Madre.

The house also contains a basement level with a cinema, playground and service area.

"Despite such an elementary programmatic organisation in the different floors of the house, spatial reading is organised through a unique vertical hole – building an intricate cross-view space that makes the void the real protagonist of the project," the studio said.

Cadaval & Solà-Morales is led by architects Eduardo Cadaval and Clara Solà-Morales. The duo started their studio in New York City in 2003 and relocated to Barcelona and Mexico City in 2005. Their other projects include a Y-shaped dwelling in a wooded area in Mexico and the conversion of a 19th-century theatre into a spacious home in Spain.

Photography is by The Raws.

Project credits:

Architect: Cadaval & Solà-Morales (Eduardo Cadaval and Clara Solà-Morales)
Collaborators: Teresa Díaz, Berta Marti, Eduardo Alegre
Client: Sorteos Tec Instituto Tecnologico de Monterrey.