Located in the Santiago neighborhood of Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico, Casa Estrella is a sensitive renovation by Atelier 16 that brings new life to a historic Yucatecan house. Rather than replacing its existing character, the project preserves the traces of its past, while introducing contemporary interventions that create a seamless dialogue between old and new. Stone walls, lush gardens, artisanal pasta mosaic floors, and natural light, come together to give the house a renewed identity while honoring its architectural heritage.
The renovation begins with a careful reading of the house’s existing fabric, retaining its spatial and material traces, while removing later additions that obscured the clarity of the original structure.
In the first bay, which accommodates the living room, kitchen and dining area, a non-original partition was removed to create a more generous, continuous interior. The existing stone masonry walls were left exposed, while two slender metal beams were introduced to reinforce the roof, making the structural intervention legible without competing with the historic fabric.
The kitchen extends this approach through a restrained palette of traditional and contemporary finishes. Cedar woodwork is paired with artisanal pasta mosaic tiles and polished grey cement flooring, while selected patterned tiles subtly reference the “star” motif that gives Casa Estrella its name.
From the main living spaces, views extend towards the swimming pool, conceived within the remains of the existing structure. In this area Atelier 16 preserved the weathered finish of the old walls, allowing their surfaces to remind the passage of time.
Enclosed by these remnants yet open to the sky, the pool evokes the spatial atmosphere of a cenote – an intimate, sheltered body of water from which the sky and stars can be observed.
Beyond the pool, the house opens onto a generous central garden that becomes the connective landscape of the project.
Intertwining paths weave through dense vegetation, linking the different areas of the residence while establishing a sequence of shaded and sunlit spaces.
Here, the muted grey tones of the architecture provide a quiet backdrop to the intense greens of the planting, strengthening the relationship between built form and tropical landscape.
At the far end of the garden, a newly constructed volume accommodates the private areas of the house. Designed to coexist with the historic structure, the addition adopts a simple architectural language and material palette that establish continuity between the different periods of construction.
The ground-floor master bedroom opens onto its own secluded garden, where a hammock and the canopy of mature existing trees create a private outdoor retreat. An external staircase, finished by hand in cement tinted with black mineral powder, leads to the secondary bedroom above, which opens onto a private terrace overlooking the gardens.
A similar logic continues within the bathrooms. Exposed masonry and carved stone basins are paired with polished grey cement walls and ceilings, allowing rough and refined surfaces to coexist within the same restrained palette.
Elements recovered from the original house are also given new functions: iron doors that once formed part of the street façade have been restored and repurposed as screens for shower areas, extending the life of the existing fabric beyond its original use.
Towards the street, the intervention draws on the proportions and composure of the colonial architecture characteristic of central Mérida. The original heights and rhythms of the façade were recovered, with one of the existing entrances retained while another was transformed into a window that brings additional daylight into the interior.
A continuous grey cement finish distinguishes the house with a deliberately understated presence, while allowing it to remain closely connected to the scale and character of its surroundings.
Throughout Casa Estrella, preservation is approached not as a return to an idealized past, but as a process of revealing, adapting and reusing what was already there. Weathered walls, exposed stone masonry and repurposed architectural elements retain the memory of the original house, while new volumes, structural additions and contemporary finishes remain clearly identifiable.
Rather than competing, these different layers form a coherent sequence in which architecture, garden, water and existing ruins contribute equally to the experience of the house.
The result is a renovation that allows the building’s history to remain visible while accommodating a new chapter of domestic life.
Facts & Credits
Project title Casa Estrella
Typology Architecture, Restoration, Renovation, Residential
Location Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico
Area 175,93 sqm
Architecture Atelier 16 | Lucía Ríos Santos, Martha Santos Cadena
Photography Santiago Heyser
This project was submitted to Archisearch through the “Submit a Story” feature, where architects, designers, and creatives are invited to share their work for publication.