Mexican firm Studio Arquitectos has created a residential apartment complex in popular Mexican holiday resort Tulum, featuring shared courtyards and traditional Mayan materials.

Dismayed by the disproportionate focus on holiday housing by real estate developers, principal architect Eduardo Garcia Figueroa imagined Aldea Ka'a "with a design equal to any other aimed for tourists".
The 873-square-metre complex comprises four buildings with two apartments in each. A covered walkway runs the longitudinal axis of the building, connecting twin shared courtyards designed to aid air circulation.

It forms part of a theme of pairs, prevalent throughout the Aldea Ka'a project.
"?Ka'a is the Mayan word for the number two, which is a recurring number in this project: the main pergola splits the project in two and connects with two streets on the outside, the complex has two common areas and the buildings are duplexes," Figueroa told Dezeen.
The open layout lets residents cohabitate in common areas and form their own aldea, or village.
Instead of solid barriers, endemic flora was planted to create privacy, but allow ample natural light. The studio also preserved as many existing trees on the plot as possible.

"We wanted to respect nature, so we placed the buildings in areas without trees," Figueroa said.
"The path is a whole sensorial and receptive experience by being completely surrounded by plants of the region," he continued. "Even the ...