A covered patio with a couch and a table

January 23, 2025

Words: Jesse Dorris

Photography: Michael Moran

Sustainability Is Baked Into The Blueprint Of This Caribbean Home

2024 Best of Year Winner for Large City House

Residences located in tropical areas like the Caribbean must strike the right balance between maximizing and mitigating the ample resources of sun, breeze, and rain. Such was the case for this house, designed around natural ventilation. The 16,400-square-foot structure by Moneo Brock takes the form of a trio of travertine-clad concrete platforms—each set at a slightly different level to follow the topography—anchoring a grid of steel columns that in turn support vaulted brick roofs. Walls are alternately sliding glass, fully open, or composed of wooden louvers; on the property’s street-facing side, a screen wall built of local stone hushes traffic noise. Sustainability is baked in: Solar panels harness sunlight, large cisterns collect rainwater used to feed the numerous ponds and pools that cool the interior, and tanks beneath the main slab purify blackwater for household use.

Best of Year 2025 Awards

See Interior Design’s Best of Year Winners and Honorees

Explore must-see projects and innovative products that took home high honors.

2025 WINNERS
A house with a pool surrounded by palm trees
A covered patio with a couch and a table
A bathroom with a tub and a large window
A porch with a wooden bench and a brick wall


PROJECT TEAM: BELÉN MONEO; JEFFREY BROCK; FEDERICO PÉREZ; JAVIER DEL POZO; FRANCISCO BLAZQUEZ; PEDRO ARNANZ; ISMAEL SANZ; YAIZA CAMACHO.

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