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Graphic designer Victoria Herrera had delved into interior design when she completely redecorated her Mexico City apartment, filling it with finds from local markets. But when she bought a piece of land on Lake Atitlan, near her mother’s home in Guatemala, there was no interior to decorate. Designing and building the house would be entirely up to her.
“I have so much respect for architecture, so in many ways I thought I had nothing to do with it,” Herrera recalls. But drawing inspiration from the area’s traditional building techniques inspired her. ““The architectural style of the small Mayan villages around the lake is simple, functional, and from another time,” she says. Think concrete blocks and metal doors. The approach helped make the build affordable and the look completely trend-proof. “I was able to root[the design]in something that felt more important than aesthetics,” Herrera says.
To start, Herrera used the software she was most familiar with as a graphic designer, Adobe Illustrator, to create the house’s floor plans. She then had an architect review them before breaking ground. For construction, she relied on her mother, who lives nearby and knows plumbers and electricians, and a local professional contractor, Alfredo Quiche, who hired experienced local masons. “Electricity is not readily available, so building this house was done without power tools,” Herrera says. Plus, Lake Atitlan is surrounded by volcanoes, so excavating is no easy task. “It was incredible to see how efficiently the construction team broke through layers of volcanic rock by hand to lay the house’s foundation,” she notes.
Once the design was locked in, there were still surprises during construction. “We really wanted to keep trees on the property, but in order to save these two large avocado trees, we had to incorporate a large lava rock hill,” says Herrera. “What I thought would be a flat, one-story house turned out to be a cool elevation change that led to a sunken living room design.” The pivot resulted in 17-foot ceilings in the living room, making the 6,000-square-foot home feel exponentially larger than it would have been otherwise. “It almost has a cathedral-like quality now,” says Herrera.
Another design choice that contributes to the small space’s grandeur? Nooks. Rather than embrace the open-plan trend, Herrera divided the home into even smaller spaces defined by their function: cooking, eating, lounging, and sleeping. “It makes you feel like you could really spend the whole day here, even though it’s so small,” she says.
With construction nearing completion, Herrera could finally get to work decorating. She didn’t have to go far to find local treasures: “My mom and I would jump in the car and drive around the lake for hours, stopping whenever something felt interesting.” Together, they discovered a “hole in the wall store” with stacks of ceramics that they used to decorate the kitchen. They also had a selection of textiles. “Guatemalan textiles are really special because every region has its own,” Herrera explains. For example, the 12 villages around the lake each have their own unique hand-woven textile patterns.
After the house was completed, came the most important part: Herrera worked with a Mayan shaman and family friend to bless the structure. “The volcanoes have life, so out of respect you ask permission to be there and change the land and bless your existence in the future,” she explains. “Everything in this house is meant to honor local traditions, from the materials to the spiritual practices.”
