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East Asian design technique that incorporates a distant view into the garden's composition. "We wanted to bring in the lushness of the greenery of the park, so I asked Mauricio to design a garden that is more jungle-like with tropical plants with many different textures and sizes of leaves," Lobeira says. Giant white birds of paradise, Egyptian papyrus, temple trees, Arabian jasmine, and delicate maidenhair and silver lady ferns all thrive amid a microclimate generated by the stream that runs through the property. Massive boulders and river rocks create a retaining wall, and a raised swimming pool surrounded by greenery has the effect of a grand water feature. A rchitecture styles in the Nuevo León capital of Monterrey are a striking mix of history and modernity, from Bishop's Palace, an 18th-century Spanish colonial mansion done in the Baroque style, to Luis Barragán's Lighthouse of Commerce, a towering red monument built in 1984. Tadao Ando's stunning contemporary hacienda, Casa Monterrey, is built from concrete and glass and nestles into a hillside overlooking the city. For his own house, Lobeira looked to Scandinavia's iconic A-frame holiday cabins. Often clad in black oxidized zinc and steel, such structures are designed to blend into the surrounding forest. "The idea came to me to design an urban cabin," Lobeira says. "The two- story A-frame house is a familiar shape to the eye; it's very simple but with proportions that you can do wonders with." The straightforward architecture style is contrasted with complex materials, textures, and colors traditional to Mexican culture, such as the exterior's Cantera Negra de Galindo limestone, quarried in central Mexico. Lobeira chose the stone because the unusually dark color integrates naturally with the deep greens of the surrounding forest. "The house becomes more like a shadow than a shape," he says. The limestone's vertical pattern, which Lobeira designed, took inspiration from ancient Aztec stelae, or stone monuments. It took two years for local artisans to cut and carve each piece by hand on-site. Inside, a broad sweep of open space envelops a living room, bar, dining room, and stairway leading to bedrooms. "The entirety of the space A floating wall creates a focal point in the open living area, with an Edelmiro Rangel painting, Dante — Goods and Bads sofa from Garde, John Hutton Collections black velvet armchair, pair of Christian Liaigre lounge chairs, and a vintage fur chair from Forty Five Ten. Allan Knight Lucite coffee table and found stools. Sconce by Promemoria. Sculpture on pedestal by Raúl Cerrillo. Collection of Indonesian martaban jars from La Bodega de Mauricio Jasso, Monterrey. Rug designed by Ten Plus Three. 89