In its three-plus-year existence, Casa JL, designed by Cinco Solidos, has become gradually more and more one with its lush natural surroundings. When the 1,100 square-metre (11,840 sq.ft) house was built up the hill to face the city of Medellín, it was created to respond to and disappearing into the mountainside. With the tropical, rainy climate of the area tempered by the altitude, everything eventually becomes part of the surrounding nature.

Typical to the design language of Cinco Solidos, the beautifully minimalist, mid-century modernist residence lacks any ornamentation or embellishments. There?s nothing that would distract from the principal, two-level structure that in its weight falls nicely somewhere between Frank Lloyd Wright?s hefty Fallingwater and Mies van der Rohe?s weightless Farnsworth.
At Casa JL, the only perceptible distracting feature is the gorgeous, white spiralling staircase but in its sea-shell-like organic form, even it seems more like a piece of nature-created art than a frivolous interference.

The open-plan ground floor includes living, dining and kitchen areas plus a separate lounge/TV room. All of the spaces on the ground floor are open to the building-length terrace and pool. Only full-height retractable glass panels separate the interior from the exterior that together become a large natural living environment.

On the second level, similar glass panels in the three bedrooms open to the full-length balcony. While most of the living areas...