Casa Liquidambar by Naser Nader Ibrahim

The liquidambar tree is vast. Native to the cloud forest, it grows quickly and requires little intervention by human hands to thrive. The tree is not shy about its magnificence, but it’s not showy or gaudy, either. It fits right into its surroundings, a stunning member of the wider natural community.

Casa Liquidambar, situated in a small, private neighborhood on the outskirts of Coatepec, Veracruz — coffee country — could be described similarly: magnificent yet understated; elegant yet unassuming. 

At the end of a street of the same name it sits. Curves of volcanic stone and smooth, rounded panels of blonde wood around the garage and windows make up its façade. The lush greenery surrounding the property drapes effortlessly along its lower walls. Warmth glows from cove lighting below the doorsteps and around the home’s openings, ensuring a comforting and cheerful homecoming on even the rainiest days.

The Mexican-sourced volcanic stone used in the exterior, cantera negra, is a unique feature of the home. Besides its dark beauty and natural texture, the stone is ideal for the wet, humid climate that it’s a part of: it holds strong even as other materials expand and contract with the shapeshifting, misty weather.

Step inside the home, and the hints of warmth and brightness expand immensely. In contrast to the dark volcanic rock used on the exterior, the interior features another prized material along its walls and floors, this one light: chukum. Formed from a recently rediscovered ancient Mayan technique, chukum is a stucco created by mixing bark from the Mexican peninsula native chukum tree with cement. The result is a creamy, natural-looking, and incredibly strong and resistant finish. 

The living room invites intimacy and coziness immediately. A sunken space with a curved, built-in sitting area provides a meeting place in front of the hearth. All furniture is made with construction material, in fact, ensuring a seamless fit into its surroundings. 

Cove lighting brings brightness to the low shelves in front of the wrapped sitting area, and a subtle fireplace warms it. In fact, cove lighting is a feature throughout Casa Liquidambar: the nooks you need to see glow from behind, and the home is further illuminated by the natural light pouring from expansive, double height windows.

The height of the light double-volume stone wall above the shelving and fireplace alcoves only adds to the warm, airy quality of the space; double volume height can also be found in the kitchen, master bedroom, and back entrance, lending the home a true feeling of being “in the clouds.” No bright, flashy colors needed: you’re in el cielo, now.

Continue on from the living room and you’ll find one of the most whimsical features of the otherwise natural, undecorated walls: a large, textured moon over white, minimalist stairs leading up to an interior mid-height balcony that looks out onto the courtyard. Underneath the stairs is a small sitting area next to large plants in the under-stair garden: green spills over in unlikely places throughout the house, including here.

The edges and undersides of the home’s many interior balconies are lined in natural wood, with strips of bamboo decorating the undersides. That combined with the placement of live plants in every room of the house gives one the feeling of having found a heavenly clearing in the wilderness, subtly lit throughout by naturally colored woven pendant lamps.

The kitchen is bright and utilitarian, featuring a concrete island with ample storage space below and natural wood cabinet doors. Glass doors line the double volume side where a thick slab of natural wood stretches from the island to form a table. On each side of the kitchen, gently lit open shelving on top compliment larger cabinet spaces on bottom.

The master bedroom features a large white wood-lined platform with the mattress snuggled into the middle. A bamboo-lined balcony with rattan pendant lanterns curves around above the bed, while the rest of the room is open to the second floor: a cave from which to observe the vastness of the clouds. On one side, a small closet area supplies several illuminated shelves, and a sliding door to the courtyard sits beside it. On the other side, a wall of round, grey stones provides a backdrop for a series of cacti and trees, all gently lit from below.

A larger walk-in closet offers more space for hanging under arched nooks, as well as shelves for clothes and a small sitting area with a window.

The bathroom is an especially lush experience. A sculpted wood box with curvy edges on the ceiling serves as both overhead light and showerhead, providing the effect of rain for one’s shower, while climbing plants line the upper walls. If a bath is preferred, a tub awaits next to the shower with a picture window offering gorgeous views of the lush foliage just outside.

For guests, a loft bedroom offers two cozy palettes under a low ceiling with skylights and pendant lamps, complete with its own backlit display area along one wall. Frondose plants offer the touch of nature that is present throughout the house, and the space looks out onto the gorgeous double height courtyard.

For maximum privacy with an outdoor feel, the vast windows look out onto a lush yet organized interior courtyard. With a sunken sitting area in cantera negra that both mirrors and juxtaposes that of the living room’s chukum materials, the focus transitions from a hearth to the splendor of nature. Up close, an opulent gift: the bright lavender-colored jacaranda tree. And beyond the neat, white stoned surface dotted with small shrubbery and large, flat volcanic slabs, lush vegetation hangs from the double volume wall in front and two long balconies on the sides.

Casa Liquidambar is the seamless connection between the cloud forest and the kind of clean, cozy shelter that one might associate with actually living in the forest’s foggy treetops. 

Text by Sarah E. DeVries