La Picuda

La Picuda is the house the Mexican architect Carlos Herrera designed and built for himself on the Pacific coast at Huatulco, in the southern state of Oaxaca. Set in around 6,000 square metres of tropical gardens above the ocean, it has six suites for up to fourteen guests and is let as an exclusive, fully staffed private estate.

Richard Rogers, the 2007 Pritzker Prize laureate, knew the house well and wrote about it in his foreword to Carlos Herrera: The Architecture of Lines, Light, and Luxury, published by Rizzoli. He traced the route through it, from a raked courtyard of palms through an almost hidden entrance to a sudden view of the Pacific, and counted the white canopy suspended above its pool among the most beautiful he had seen. He placed Herrera in the line of Luis Barragán and Ricardo Legorreta.

Inside, the house holds a significant collection of Mexican art, with works by Francisco Toledo, Sergio Hernández, Cuevas and Urbieta in the suites, passages and courtyards. Outside are three infinity pools, each turned to a different part of the coast, a cold plunge, a floodlit tennis court and a dining deck over the cliff, while stone steps lead down to the beach and a rock platform for sea swimming.

A chef, butler, housekeepers and security staff run the house, and meals centre on Oaxacan cooking. With a spa room, a Technogym gym and a meeting room for fourteen backed by Starlink, La Picuda suits a leadership retreat as readily as a family gathering. Huatulco International Airport is around twenty minutes away.

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