Mexican practice Estudio Zero has created a co-living apartment building rendered in pink-toned concrete with a series of arched forms informed by sound waves in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca.

Known as Amplitude Coliving, the 390-square-metre complex was completed in 2025 on a 315.5-square-metre site in La Punta, a coastal neighbourhood known for small-scale, independent construction.

Estudio Zero, which is based in Querétaro, worked with the client to personify the idea of amplitude, the physical shape of sound waves and the way energy travels and grows in intensity.

"We took that literally and translated it into the architecture – you can actually read the waveform in the facade, in the way the arches and columns rise and taper," the studio told Dezeen, explaining that the design also represents the energy of the client.

"From there it became a shared language between client and studio – not just a form, but a way of thinking about how energy and community move through the building."

The complex is organised as a sequence of courtyards, open-air corridors and interconnected common areas that allow circulation to progress into levels of social interaction.

A courtyard sits at the centre of the plan with a pool, shared kitchen and dining area and serves as the social heart of the complex. In the co-living plan, individuals rent rooms and share the common spaces.

"That's the whole idea behind this coliving model," the studio said, "not to program those encounters, but to design a courtyard that gives people every reason to be in the same place and let the connection happen on its own."

Open-air balconies with scalloped railings line the courtyard and transition to three different apartment types – studios, larger units with private garden spaces and double-height loft units on the upper level of the main facade with alternative roof vaults.

Tied to the Oaxacan coastal landscape, the interior and exterior colour palette includes terracotta-pink, hand-rendered stucco, board-formed concrete and tropical hardwood doors, window frames and custom millwork.

The warm, natural materials contrast with glass block that filters light in the bedroom, delicate steel spiral staircases and cable railings that add a nautical touch to the mass.

"The tapered, hourglass-shaped concrete columns that flare out to meet the balcony slab. Visually, they read almost like a waveform, tying the structural language directly back to the 'amplitude' concept," the studio said, explaining that all of the details reinforce the idea of the building as something in motion rather than a static object.

Opposing openings, shaded open-air corridors, deep overhangs and spatial porosity keep air flowing through the building, while the thermal mass of the concrete and stucco moderates internal temperature swings.

Meanwhile, solar panels are paired with battery storage to keep the building running during tropical weather events.

Other recent projects in Mexico that deploy a similar pink scheme include a residential complex by V Taller in Tulum centred around a tower, blocky beach housing by Reyes Rios + Larrain in Dzemul and a renovated apartment building by Heryco in Queretaro.

The photography is by Alex Krotkov.