In Puerto Vallarta, on Mexico’s Pacific coast, Casa Tao by HW Studio is conceived around shade as both a climatic necessity and a spatial condition. The 472 m² residence draws on the memories and interests of its inhabitants, translating ideas of shelter, quiet and contemplation into a sequence of enclosed courtyards, filtered views and protected interiors.

The house occupies a neighbourhood without distant views, but directly faces a tree-lined plaza offering shade and breeze. Rather than opening frontally towards it through extensive glazing, the architecture establishes an indirect relationship with its surroundings. Carefully positioned openings allow the presence of the plaza to be perceived while limiting exposure to the intense coastal sun.

Shade as a way of inhabiting

The design emerged in part from the inhabitants’ personal histories. Growing up in Puerto Vallarta, one of the owners understood shade as an essential refuge from the heat and humidity of the Pacific climate. A later family journey to Japan introduced another set of references: spatial restraint, emptiness, carefully filtered light and a sense of stillness.

These influences are translated into an architecture of indirect relationships. The house neither withdraws completely from the city nor exposes itself fully to it. Instead, views, breezes and daylight enter through controlled openings, courtyards and transitional spaces.

The result is an environment shaped less by outward display than by the gradual experience of light and shadow.

 

 

Private spaces below, social life above

The principal programme is divided vertically. Bedrooms, the garage and service areas occupy the base of the house, while a lighter, double-height volume containing the main social spaces is raised above them.

Elevating the communal areas separates daily social life from street level and opens it towards the crowns of the surrounding trees. Air circulates around the upper volume, while elevated patios form protected outdoor rooms overlooking the neighbouring greenery.

The arrangement allows the house to engage with the plaza without relying on a conventional panoramic façade. The relationship is experienced through fragments: the movement of branches, the arrival of the breeze and the changing quality of light.

Courtyards and interior retreat

The bedrooms are organized around a courtyard, where enclosure provides privacy while preserving access to air and sky. At the entrance, a curved wall gently redirects movement, while a tree marks the transition into the house.

This inward orientation creates a sequence of spaces focused on the sky, shade and vegetation. The courtyards are therefore more than sources of natural light and ventilation; they establish the slower rhythm around which domestic life is organized.

Throughout the house, privacy is achieved through depth and indirect views rather than complete isolation.

 

 

Concrete, whiteness and filtered light

The material palette reinforces the contrast between the intensity of the exterior climate and the subdued atmosphere within. White surfaces respond sharply to the coastal sun, while exposed concrete absorbs and softens light.

Its weight gives the interiors a sense of permanence, but the changing daylight prevents the material from appearing static. Light settles across walls and surfaces, revealing subtle differences between open courtyards, shaded thresholds and more protected rooms.

The architects relate this approach to Junichirō Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows, where darkness is understood as a means of giving depth to perception rather than simply as the absence of light. In Casa Tao, shade becomes similarly active: a climatic resource, a spatial filter and the element through which the house establishes its atmosphere.

Casa Tao ultimately proposes a form of domestic life organized around attention and pause. Through its elevated patios, inward-facing courtyards and carefully controlled openings, the house creates a protected interior world while remaining connected to the air, vegetation and climate of Puerto Vallarta.

Set within a public park in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, Bkd Bakery by UMKY design is conceived as an extension of the surrounding urban landscape. The 305 m² building opens towards the park through large sliding elements, allowing the boundary between the interior, shaded terraces and public space to shift throughout the day.

The design responds simultaneously to the demanding regional climate and the operational requirements of a working bakery. Deep pergolas protect three sides of the building, while the interior combines public circulation, seating and production within a continuous spatial sequence.

 

 

Extending the park into the interior

The design began with an analysis of pedestrian movement through the park. The main entrance aligns with its central axis, establishing a direct continuation of the principal public route into the bakery.

Rather than enclosing the commercial space behind a fixed façade, large sliding mechanisms allow it to open towards the surrounding landscape. The transition from park to terrace and interior becomes gradual, allowing the bakery to participate in the everyday activity of the public space.

Deep pergolas extend along three sides of the building. They shade the outdoor seating areas and limit direct solar exposure, creating a protected perimeter around the bakery and reducing heat gain within the interior.

This shaded edge is central to the project. It allows indoor and outdoor hospitality spaces to operate as parts of the same environment while responding to Ajman’s intense climate.

A layout shaped by movement

The organization of the interior follows the pedestrian flows approaching the building. Public functions remain clear and immediately accessible, while staff circulation, storage and other back-of-house operations are positioned away from the principal guest areas.

At the center of the plan, a large service counter becomes the main visual and spatial point of reference. It is built from custom-cast concrete bricks with mint-green pigment added during production, establishing a material relationship with the vegetation of the surrounding park.

The masonry gives the counter a tactile presence and anchors the open interior. Its weight contrasts with the transparency of the perimeter and the ability of the façades to open almost completely towards the exterior.

 

 

A domestic scale beneath the pitched ceiling

Above the public areas, the ceiling follows the profile of a pitched roof. The familiar geometry reduces the perceived height of the interior and introduces a more intimate scale within the large commercial space.

The form also performs a technical role, concealing the extensive climate-control equipment required by the bakery. Rather than allowing these systems to dominate the interior, the ceiling integrates them within an architectural element associated with shelter and domesticity.

This combination of technical performance and familiar form supports the broader character of the project: an open public venue that nevertheless maintains a sense of warmth and enclosure.

Baking as part of the public experience

At the core of the bakery, the production area is enclosed by glass and remains visible from the guest spaces. Visitors can observe the preparation and baking process, making production part of the everyday experience of the interior.

Integrating a working bakery into a busy public space required careful coordination of ventilation. The production zone remains visually connected to the seating areas while operating with the air-control systems necessary to maintain comfortable conditions throughout the building.

Transparency therefore operates at several scales. The bakery opens towards the park, the public areas remain visually connected across the interior, and the process of production is placed on display.

Inspired by ideas of movement and lightness associated with the Gemini constellation, the project avoids the character of a sealed commercial object. Through its sliding boundaries, shaded perimeter and visible production spaces, Bkd Bakery becomes a place of exchange between the park, the interior and the everyday activity of baking.

 

 

In the peri-urban area of Limassol, the residence is organized through two shifted rectangular volumes, creating a cross-ventilated core for semi-outdoor living. This intermediate space works as a filter between interior and exterior, reinforcing the continuity of everyday life. On the upper floor, the private areas are protected by deep projections that integrate planting. This gesture contributes to passive solar protection, while softening the exposed concrete mass and establishing a more nuanced threshold between the building, natural light and the surrounding environment.

 

 

 

At MGO Protopapas I in Limassol, the office building’s façade develops through folded surfaces and parametrically designed vertical elements. Its dynamic form follows the movement of the road, turning the façade into a field of shifting geometries. On the southern side, the aluminium frames are recessed from the building line, while semi-outdoor terraces of varying sizes unfold in front of them. Together with the vertical fins, these terraces provide shade to the office interiors during the summer months, integrating environmental performance into the overall architectural expression.

 

 

04. Aegean Color Rooms | The Hive Architects

 

 

In Naousa, Paros, Aegean Color Rooms redesigns a small hospitality building through clear geometry and a renewed visual identity. The central design idea is the integration of perforated linear canopies, which filter natural light and frame views toward the sea. These structures offer shade and protection, while acting as transitional elements between the rooms and their outdoor spaces. The balconies become small private oases, where shading, color and water come together to create a calm hospitality experience.

 

 

05. Villa Ypsilon | Lassa Architects

ek Issue: 217 | May 2017

 

 

In the southern Peloponnese, Villa Ypsilon is set on a hillside olive grove and defined by its Y-shaped green roof, which functions as an extension of the garden. Circulation around and over the roof creates a continuous promenade, defining three ground-level courtyards with different uses. The roof was specifically oriented to shade the courtyards at selected times of the day. At the same time, a perforated wall protects the interior from the afternoon sun, while allowing cross-ventilation and natural cooling during the evening.

 

 

On a sloping site in Limassol, the House in Kefalokremmos follows the topography and is organized as a refuge in direct dialogue with the natural terrain and sea views. Its stepped layout allows interior and exterior spaces to flow smoothly into one another.

Carefully positioned stoas and semi-outdoor areas act as filters against sun and wind. Shading is therefore not limited to isolated construction elements; it becomes part of the spatial organization of the house, offering comfort, calmness and gradations of privacy.

 

At Ogarden, an existing office building is transformed into a mixed-use project combining office spaces and boutique short-stay apartments. The project’s defining new architectural feature is a system of vertical exterior louvers, made of white concrete with marble chips from Naxos and Tinos. These fixed louvers wrap the building as a second skin, providing shade and privacy. Their different angles create a wave-like effect on the façade, while light and shadow constantly transform the building’s appearance. Horizontal aluminium shading systems at ground level and on the planted roof complete the solar protection strategy.

 

 

 

In Maroussi, Terra Form House creates an architectural microclimate within the dense urban fabric. The residence redefines basic architectural elements, such as the roof, garden, threshold and windows, in order to form a protected inner and outer world. The traditional pitched roof is transformed into a two-sided perforated canopy, extending beyond the enclosed volume of the house and embracing the outdoor spaces. It provides shade and privacy, unifying the gardens and living areas under a single protective structure.

 

 

In Kalyviani, Chania, Corte Interna restores a complex of three stone buildings arranged around an internal courtyard. The intervention preserves the character of the existing ensemble, while introducing contemporary metal elements, natural materials and fluid forms that contrast with the solidity of stone. In the raised courtyard, sliding fabric awnings on tensile steel cables provide shade and create a gathering space. This simple construction is organically integrated into the whole, combining the atmosphere of a traditional material with the clarity of a contemporary addition.