Residents of this getaway in Mexico, designed by architects Pérez Palacios and Alfonso de la Concha Rojas, can spend weekends lazing in a hammock suspended above a secluded swimming pool.

Mexico City-based architects Pérez Palacios and Alfonso de la Concha Rojas designed Casa La Quinta for a retired couple. It is located in San Miguel de Allende ? a city in the central Guanajuato state.

The site is penned in on the longer sides by neighbouring properties, so the architects arranged the 350-square-metre house around three courtyards to provide the residents with access to private outdoor space.

The swimming pool and hammock ? which mirror a similar set up in a Mexican house recently renovated by Punto Arquitectonico ? are placed in the largest of these patios in the centre of the residence. The second yard is a gravelled seating area planted with a tree, and the third is much smaller.

"Having a scheme that works inwards and having no nearby views to the landscape, three void spaces were proposed in the plan in the form of patios, each one with different character, use and programme," said the team in a statement.

"These voids give the project its character, producing different perception of scale to the user, a high contrast of light and shadows, spaces of silence and rest."

The walls surrounding the yards include those belonging to the neighbouring properties. But all are coated in a cream-hued Corev ? a paste-like finish intended to mimic the ...