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Fernanda Canales creates a circular home framing a mountain and a volcano in Mexico
Mexico Architecture News - Feb 03, 2026 - 05:21 216 views
Mexico City-based architect Fernanda Canales has created a circular home that frames a mountain and a volcano in La Reserva Peñitas, State of Mexico, Mexico.
The 360-degree view of normal vision is doubled by the geometric and optical device known as House 720 Degrees. A central patio and potential interactions between the inner and exterior worlds served as the inspiration for the design.
Image © Camila Cossio
This off-grid home was designed as a solar clock that keeps track of time. At night, it turns inward around a circular courtyard, while during the day it frames a mountain and a volcano and opens up toward the different vistas along the circle's exterior perimeter.
The main circular house, a separate studio/guest room, and a rectangle volume with a patio that houses extra bedrooms, storage, and services make up the project's three distinct volumes.
Image © Camila Cossio
The separation into distinct volumes maintains the current vegetation while responding to the prominent topography. It is built for two households and has areas for visitors and extended family.
The ground floor and an open roof terrace comprise the two levels of the property. Rectangular bedrooms, bathrooms, closets, and a kitchen are all located within its circular layout. The curved walls, which extend as gardens toward the outside and as terraces toward the courtyard, are left open for movement.
Flexible apertures, such as privacy screens, big fold-away windows, and framed vistas, enable the interior areas to change while maintaining their connection to the outside world.
The house, which is situated in an isolated valley three hours away from Mexico City, combines two seemingly incompatible elements: openness and solitude.
It provides refuge from extreme weather, where temperatures can fluctuate by 30°C in a single day and rain is the norm for half of the year, while allowing as much access to the surrounding environment as feasible.
Image © Camila Cossio
Its walls serve as barriers between three spatial conditions (central, inside, and outside), two seasons (dry and wet), and two temperate zones (forest and prairie).
Image © Camila Cossio
Nestled into the ground from where its materials come, the house is earthbound. Local soil was blended with concrete to create a natural finish that reflects the terrain, allowing the large-scale construction to fit into the unspoiled landscape in a low, single-level design. The majority of the furniture and lights were made on-site using regional resources and workmanship.
The home uses hydronic radiant floors in the bedrooms, collects rainwater, and uses solar panels to provide its own electricity.
Water used throughout the house is also heated by the solar system. Each area opens to two or three distinct orientations and benefits from natural cross-ventilation.
Easy and affordable maintenance was the top priority: weather-resistant, long-lasting materials that blend in with the surroundings without the need for painting or cladding.
The house is a living building that merges, adapts, and breathes with its surroundings; it was built with the soil and color of the terrain, changing gradually with the seasons.
Site plan
Ground floor plan
Section
Section A-A and section B-B
Axonometric drawing
Axonometric drawing
Fernanda Canales is an architect from Mexico City. She studied architecture at the Ibero-American University in Mexico City, then earned a Master’s degree in Theory and Criticism from the Barcelona School of Architecture, and a PhD from the Madrid School of Architecture.
Her work has won several international awards and has been displayed at notable places such as the Royal Academy of the Arts in London, the Ifa Galerie in Stuttgart, and the Venice Architecture Biennale.
Project facts
Project name: House 720 Degrees
Architect: Fernanda Canales
Location: La Reserva Peñitas, State of Mexico, Mexico
Completion date: 2024
Surface area: 8,000m2 (861,112 sq ft)
Built area: 1,115m2 (12,000 sq ft)
Architect of Record: Fernanda Canales
Team: Aarón Jassiel, Alberto García Valladares, Ángela Vizcarra
Interior decoration: Camilla Pallares
Engineers / Consultants
Structural Engineer: Gerson Huerta – Grupo Sai
Sanitary and electrical installations: Carlos Medina – Grupo MEB
Carpentry: Óscar Nieto
Lighting: Lucas Salas
General Contractor: Felipe Nieto
All images © Rafael Gamo unless otherwise stated.
All drawings © Fernanda Canales.
