ludwig godefroy's cluster of volumes at casa la paz shape 'a garden with a house' in mexico

casa la paz in baja california is conceived from the outside in

With Casa La Paz, Ludwig Godefroy continues his investigation into landscape-first architecture with a project that challenges the conventional hierarchy of house and garden. The house settles into a sloping topography close by a dry creek in Baja California, Mexico, built first as a garden, which then contains a house. Conceived from the outside in, the starting point for the French architect was to create a void. This empty space, the garden, acts as the primary organizing element that defines circulation, buffers views from neighboring plots, and creates a sense of interiority in the open air. In this inversion, the garden becomes the de facto living room, kitchen, and dining space, while the surrounding built volumes function more like shelters or pavilions arranged in support of this central feature.

The house eliminates the facade as a defining architectural element, creating a structure that is continuously open and ventilated. Tall organ pipe cacti, thick elephant trees, and twisted desert bushes surround it, with this new permeability between the garden and the house leading to the idea of a ‘habitable garden’. At the same time, it continues to offer privacy through orientation and layering rather than enclosure. In this way, the architecture is open to the environment while still responding to the human need for shelter and intimacy.

all images courtesy of Ludwig Godefroy

ludwig godefroy fosters connectivity between terrain & house

Casa La Paz’s spatial arrangement reorients familiar domestic priorities, placing nature at the core and architecture at its edges. The site itself was key to the project’s spatial strategy. Ludwig Godefroy sought to preserve the original topography, especially the subtle connection between the terrain and a nearby creek. The architecture then responds by accepting the contours of the land, allowing the house to emerge without interrupting the terrain’s flow. In doing so, the structure negotiates a delicate balance between intervention and preservation, making room for the land to express itself alongside the architecture.

Throughout, the house is designed as a sequence of spatial experiences unfolding through the land and the interior space. The architect crafts a constellation of volumes linked by the pathways and shadows that shift throughout the day, and each corner forms a microclimate or atmosphere: a place to rest, eat, or retreat. The architecture supports coexistence without requiring proximity, allowing residents to share the same space while remaining partially unaware of one another’s presence.

Ludwig Godefroy continues his investigation into landscape-first architecture

Casa La Paz challenges the conventional hierarchy of house and garden

the house settles into a sloping topography close by a dry creek in Baja California, Mexico

conceived as a cluster of pavilion-like volumes

textures of natural materials

Ludwig Godefroy sought to preserve the original topography

the garden becomes the de facto living room, kitchen, and dining space,

Casa La Paz’s spatial arrangement reorients familiar domestic priorities, placing nature at the core and architecture at its edges

the architecture supports coexistence without requiring proximity

tall organ pipe cacti, thick elephant trees, and twisted desert bushes surround it

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project info:

name: Casa La Paz

architect: Ludwig Godefroy | @ludwiggodefroy

location: Baja, California, USA