Chain + Siman pairs stone bunkhouse with gabled metal house in Mexico

Mexican architecture studio Chain + Siman has completed Casa Ani, a 689-square-metre weekend house in Valle de Bravo, outside Mexico City, that sets a contemporary three-gabled volume wrapped in black standing-seam metal against a stone-clad bunkhouse. The residence was finished in 2025, a few hours from the studio's base in Mexico City.

The design responds to a gabled structure that had long stood on the property. The team drew that heritage form into two contrasting parts: a single-roofed, stone-and-timber house and the contemporary gabled structure.

"Casa Ani grew out of a dialogue between old and new," Chain + Siman told Dezeen. "The result is a conversation across materials and time: stone against metal, tile against steel, the weight of history against the lightness of the new."

The primary entrance passes through the largest of the three glass gables. On the east side, the three-gabled form holds the social areas of the house: the living and dining room, kitchen and primary suite sit beneath independent A-frame roofs elevated above floor-to-ceiling glazing.

"Dark metal cladding frames inclined wooden planes, creating a lightweight and rhythmic facade," the studio said. "The repetition of the A-frame roofs brings dynamism to the composition, while the glazing of the final volume extends across almost its entire elevation, revealing the social areas and reinforcing their open character."

The largest gabled form contains the living room, centred on a black-steel fireplace set against warm-toned engineered wood. The room looks out onto outdoor seating and a pool.

Set perpendicular to the contemporary volume, the two-storey stone building runs along the eastern longitudinal axis of the irregular site. "This stone structure accommodates the bedrooms and presents a largely closed facade toward the street," the studio said. "A large window interrupts its solidity, framing a double-height space and a steel staircase that emphasises the contrast between mass and transparency."

Inside the stone building, a warm-toned family room with a built-in lounging platform acts as its heart, transitioning to a secondary suite and service and storage spaces. Above, three suites extend the sleeping quarters, each with double porches that traverse the long side of the form.

Pedro Sánchez Paisajismo designed the surrounding landscape. Olive trees, flowering species and an orchard blend the extensive programme into the forest beyond.

The house also pursues energy autonomy. "The residence incorporates an off-grid strategy through solar panels and battery storage located on the south-facing metal roofs," the studio said. "Their formal integration allows them to blend with the architecture, reducing both visual and environmental impact while reinforcing the project's energy autonomy."

Casa Ani joins a cluster of recent geometric houses in Valle de Bravo, a popular holiday destination on the banks of Lake Avándaro. Sordo Madaleno divided a house across six red, rounded pavilions; Fernanda Canales oriented a circular house like a solar clock; and Pedro & Juana connected an extension with a zigzag tunnel staircase. Photography of Casa Ani is by Rafael Gamo. The town's drawing power for Mexico City weekenders suggests the lakeside enclave will keep accumulating sharply geometric retreats from the country's leading studios.