The clients wanted a “solid, old-world feel”, like an old Mexican hacienda, small yet energy-efficient. They wanted a house that was warm and comfortable, with monastic simplicity; the sense of a house as a haven, a retreat. The project’s design origins come from a combination of the traditional Mexican hacienda and the regional Northern New Mexican style. Room proportions, sizes and volume were determined by assessing traditional homes of this character. This was combined with a more contemporary geometric clarity of rooms and their interrelationship. The overall intent was to achieve what Mario Botta called “A newness of the old and an archaeology of the new…a sense both of historic continuity and of present day innovation”.