Architecture firm PPAA has designed a black house atop a sloped site in Mexico's Valle de Bravo region with a swimming pool that meets the tree canopy.
The project, called Las Golondrinas, provides a house for its retired owners in the Valle de Bravo town of Peña Blanca.

"The house is thought as a retirement home, a place of disconnection and rest where at the same time they can spend long periods out of town," said PPAA.
"Taking into account that the house was designed for a large family and with guests, we wanted the house to have privacy and views as a priority."

The Mexico City firm covered the house in a matte-black rendering called Corev Mooth so it would not upstage its lush surroundings at the top of its sloped plot. "The decision of the black colour was due to the fact that we wanted to keep nature as the main protagonist of the whole picture and make the house an elegant element in the context," the studio said.

Large windows, glazing and shutters break up the black walls of the house to open up to the exterior. The window frames and shutters are made from a tropical tzalam wood coated in sealer that gives a reddish hue.
"The project takes place in the upper part of a plot, leaving the surrounding nature intact and opening up to the views of the mountains," PPAA added.

Although appearing as one whole, the black house is actually composed of three volumes topped by a large sloped roof.
Underneath the roof, covered outdoo...