Moon House by Green Mecano: A Floating Mountain Retreat Overlooking Colombia’s San Nicolás Valley

A Modular Mountain House Designed for Creativity and Connection

Moon House, designed by Green Mecano, is a 230 m² architectural retreat located in the high mountains of Tablacito in Rionegro, Colombia. Completed in 2023, the residence sits one hour from Medellín and is envisioned as a floating home that seamlessly integrates with the steep terrain while capturing expansive views of the San Nicolás valley. Built for a musician, the house reflects a design language centered on openness, fluidity, and a deep relationship with the surrounding landscape.

Responding to Challenging Topography with a Floating Structure

The site’s sloping topography and strict setback requirements offered very limited flat land for construction. These constraints became the foundation for a design approach that elevates the house lightly above the terrain rather than forcing a cut-and-fill strategy. The architects responded by conceptualizing Moon House as a viewpoint dwelling suspended over the natural contours, allowing the landscape to flow uninterrupted beneath the structure.

Open-Plan Living for a Musician’s Lifestyle

The client—a musician seeking space for creativity—required a home with openness, connectivity, and flexibility. Green Mecano translated this vision into a series of interconnected modules organized through overlapping terraces. This modular composition creates a sequence of interior and exterior experiences, allowing social spaces, living areas, and creative environments to blend seamlessly.

Large glazing panels ensure uninterrupted visual connections to the valley, while warm timber surfaces and soft-toned furnishings create an intimate, serene atmosphere within the mountainous setting.

Mecano Structural System: Efficient, Lightweight, and Adaptable

A defining feature of the project is the use of the Mecano structural system, a braced metallic framework designed to optimize steel usage and accelerate construction. This prefabricated approach allows the structural components to arrive on-site ready for assembly—functioning almost like a Lego set.

This system offered several key advantages:

• Faster on-site construction, crucial for remote mountain conditions
• Minimal earthwork, preserving the natural slope
• Lightweight structure, ideal for floating above uneven terrain
• High precision, ensuring clean connections and modular adaptability

The Mecano system ultimately enabled the architects to work with agility, precision, and sustainability despite the challenging site.

A House That Respects and Enhances Its Environment

Moon House is conceived as a floating viewpoint that honors its natural context. By adapting to the slope instead of altering it, the home maintains the integrity of the mountain landscape. Its elevated platform opens dramatic vistas while offering residents a sense of immersion in nature—from the layered terraces to the framed valley views.

All photographs are works of Daniel Velez