Casa de las Estrellas or ‘House of the Stars’ is a modern Mexican home created by San Francisco architects House + House, situated in the historic center of the beautiful 450 year old colonial town of San Miguel de Allende. The home lies just four blocks from the main square, the ‘Jardin’ or Garden, of this lovely village. Filled with gardens and light, this 2,000 square foot home offers three bedroom, two bath home embraces a lush courtyard. At the first floor the entry, living room, dining room, and kitchen open onto a plant-filled patio. Grids of steel windows span floor to ceiling, linking inside to outside, creating vista through layered space.

The first floor bedroom at the rear is set slightly above the patio with its own private garden. The upper floor bedrooms, each with a private balcony, share a covered terrace and a bathroom with a 14-foot-tall cylindrical shower open to the sky. Polished burgundy columns and counters are inlaid with glass beads. The floors are made from local slate, carried from the mountains on donkey back and hand-cut to fit tightly together in random patterns. Luminous skies give a magical glow to lime washed walls in mango, cobalt, and sage. Materials are traditional, as are the construction techniques, but the forms derive from organic geometries responsive to the sun, winds, and modern life.

This home is available to rent as a vacation retreat from $1,300 per week, from here.

Red and ochre river rocks twist against a charcoal background in the courtyard. The 20-foot-high blue wall of the patio is sprinkled with lights of handmade frosted-glass stars, which seem to pull heaven right down to earth.

Shafts of light spill between square columns onto a 200-year-old carpenter’s table, framed to become the 11-foot dining table.

In the covered living terrace handmade, rusted, perforated-steel light fixtures march in rhythm with skylights, railings, and open windows.

Sinuous stairs snake upward to the upper floor while frosted star light fixtures sparkle against the 20 foot tall blue patio wall. Rusted steel sconces march in rhythm with skylights and railings. Grids of steel windows span floor to ceiling, linking inside to outside in an invisible embrace.