Have you ever been moved by the sacredness and silence of a space—so profoundly that it lingers long after you've left? Such was the experience for HW Studio when visiting the Paula Rego Museum, designed by Eduardo Souto de Moura. Beneath one of its iconic pyramid-like volumes, light descended through a high skylight like a golden mist, gently cascading over the textured concrete surfaces. The soft luminosity wrapped the space in a velvety aura, where light intersected with the linear ceilings, subtly touching every wall and corner, as if breathing life into them. Within this atmosphere, one’s breath slows, tension dissolves, and stillness takes hold.
In architecture imbued with this kind of animating spirit, certain encounters stay with you. Light and space transcend form—they awaken emotion and catalyze transformation. Casa Emma was born from such an encounter. Inspired by the museum’s ethereal use of light, the project sought to translate this sensibility into the home: to capture the sensation of overhead illumination, and to shape a place where one could feel gently enveloped and internally stirred.
But whereas the museum’s light descends from above, Casa Emma is conceived as an act of excavation—a void carved inward from a tightly constrained urban plot measuring just 4 by 10 meters. At the heart of this subtractive gesture is a volume inspired by the troje purépecha, a traditional granary form deeply significant to the client, Emma. This emotional reference shaped the entire interior, which is almost entirely clad in wood—an intentional gesture of continuity, reverence, and evocation of vernacular architecture. Through this warm material palette, and with light as its companion, the house echoes the same sense of serenity first felt in Cascais. The tight site demanded absolute spatial efficiency. A narrow front corridor guides visitors inward, delaying their first view of the roofline and gradually unveiling the home’s interior. At the center, an open-plan layout unites the living room, dining area, and kitchen, eliminating partition walls to encourage spatial flow. To the rear are the utility core and storage, along with a vertical stairwell leading to a mezzanine bedroom and a full bathroom.
Amid this wood-wrapped enclosure, a single white volume hovers—its materiality reversed, its presence intentionally distinct. This contrast introduces spatial depth, while its softened edges and reflective surfaces allow daylight to blur its boundaries, giving it the illusion of weightlessness—like a tuft of cotton floating midair. In this way, Casa Emma becomes more than a dwelling. It extends an invitation—to enter, to feel, to reflect. It is a space where light becomes a language for memory, emotion, and inner connection. It is a tribute to Emma, to her legacy, and to the quiet beauty of light as a vessel for architectural meaning and life itself.
Architect | Rogelio Vallejo Bores
Design Team | Oscar Didier Ascencio Castro, Nik Zaret Cervantes Ordaz
Building Type | Residence
Building Area | 54.35 m²
Site Area | 40.00 m²
Materials & Finishes | Concrete, Brick Masonry, Chukum Plaster, Engineered Oak Wood
Kitchen & Bath Fixtures | Interceramic
Lighting | iLumiled, Tecnolite
Smart Home Devices | Steren
Cooking | ERA
Water & Heating System | Calorex, Altamira, Tornado
Solid Surface | Krion® 1100 Snow White
Flooring | Bastet Luxury Floors – CHAMOX
Completion | July 2024
Structural Engineer | ARGA Constructora
Construction | Grupo GAPSE (Alberto Gallegos Negrete)
Client | Alejandro Solís Hernández
Location | Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico
Videographer | Mavix / Hugo Tirso Domínguez
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