casa mexicana: edmund sumner’s photo book traces over a decade of architecture in mexico

edmund sumner captures mexico’s contemporary homes

Thames & Hudson’s new release, Casa Mexicana, traces the evolving landscape of contemporary Mexican architecture as seen through the lens of Edmund Sumner. Shot over twelve years following a series of repeated, intuitive site visits, the book presents a photographic study of 26 homes across the country — ranging from remote retreats to urban interventions. The featured projects are connected by a shared preoccupation with material nuances, spatial restraint, and sensitivity to site, which Sumner captures with a thoughtful sensibility.

These buildings engage directly with Mexico’s ecological and cultural conditions, reflecting the diverse terrain of the country while remaining deeply grounded in craft. ‘Mexico has an infectious optimism in the air. The people I meet, the designers I work with, the architecture I shoot is unified by a sense of curiosity, confidence, and the purest understated style,’ the British photographer shares with designboom. This energy threads through the book, weaving through the sculptural Brutalist-inspired works of Ludwig Godefroy to the climate-conscious approach of Mauricio Rocha + Gabriela Carrillo, to trace the broader mood of the region’s design culture.

all images by Edmund Sumner

casa mexicana examines architecture as narrative

Throughout the book, Edmund Sumner invites an unvarnished yet deeply textured reading of architecture as narrative. As he captures the quiet radicalism of contemporary Mexican practice, the photographer spotlights how buildings, in dialogue with their terrain or built contexts, reveal their complexity through light, material transitions, and spatial layering rather than overt symbolism. ‘While photography is a visual medium,’ Sumner tells designboom, ‘I hope my work serves as a conduit through which to bring conversations of emerging architecture to a global stage.’

Casa Mexicana thus presents an expansive conversation that looks at how both local and transnational figures have impacted the landscape. The book’s editorial arc, enhanced by the insight of architectural writer Jonathan Bell and accompanied by a foreword from Fernanda Canales, is shaped around this diversity of expression. Some homes engage directly with vernacular models — courtyards, shaded arcades, and thick-walled interiors that recall indigenous and colonial typologies. Ambrosi Etchegaray’s Casa Volta tucks a cluster of vaulted volumes within a jungle along Oaxaca’s coast, shaped from local brick and clay and flanked by a sequence of columns that evoke an abandoned classical temple.

Casa Catarina by Héctor Barroso

Other projects, like Ludwig Godefroy’s Casa Alférez take a more sculptural approach, merging Brutalist geometries with passive environmental strategies tailored to Mexico’s wide-ranging climates. Edmund Sumner calls this identity a kind of ‘primal future’ — a way of building that acknowledges ancestral knowledge while adapting it to contemporary needs. ‘It’s a scene with an eye on the past but one foot firmly in the future,’ he reflects. ‘Its influence is now exploding onto the global stage.’

Casa 720 by Fernanda Canales Arquitectura

Casa 720 by Fernanda Canales Arquitectura

Casa Catarina by Héctor Barroso

Casa Wabi by Tadao Ando

The Hill in Front of the Glen by HW Studio

Casa Reyes by Pedro Reyes, Carla Fernández

Casa Tiny by Aranza de Ariño

Plantel Matilda

Casa Naila

The Hill in Front of the Glen

Casa 720

Casa Estudio by Manuel Cervantes Estudio

1/4

 

 

 

 

project info:

name: Casa Mexicana

photographer: Edmund Sumner | @edmundsumner

publisher: Thames & Hudson | @thamesandhudson