2024 SPRING EXHIBITION | On view March 25 – May 10 (Extended)
Book available for purchase at the Center; $5 per book sold benefits the Center for Architecture + Design.
Friday, May 10 | 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Student Program | San Miguel de Allende: the soul of mexico
Students are invited to join Cathi and Steven House on the final day of their photo exhibition, San Miguel de Allende: the soul of Mexico. This special afternoon program offers students a glimpse into their journey — a heartfelt tribute to a town and its people, reflecting their profound love and gratitude for discovering a place that has become deeply cherished.
The newest book by Cathi and Steven House, San Miguel de Allende: the soul of Mexico, is an expression of love from them to a town and the people who inhabit it, a place that captured their hearts that they have come to love deeply and are so grateful to have found.
In 1988 a seemingly orchestrated series of events led Cathi and Steven to the Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende. After several amazing visits to San Miguel, they bought a little ruin in the historic center and built a home to be a retreat, an escape from their normal lives to a place they love where they are surrounded by their own art and books, where they can work on projects not distracted by the world normally embracing them. Building their home led people to them and they have now designed more than forty homes in Mexico. Working there has added deep, profound dimensions they never imagined – to their work and to their lives.
San Miguel de Allende: the soul of Mexico, with over 700 evocative photographs, flourishes of poetry and an insightful foreword by noted writer, Tony Cohan, illuminates the remarkable beauty of the people, the markets, the art, colorful textiles, and it’s beautiful architecture. This stunning 9-inch square, 224-page coffee-table book is a photographic journey through the history, culture and day-to-day beauty of life in San Miguel de Allende. A magnificently preserved 480-year-old Spanish Colonial city, designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008, San Miguel is considered by many to be one of the most picturesque towns in the world. Sitting at an elevation of 6,400 feet on a vast plateau in the Sierra Madre mountains, San Miguel is enveloped by luminous skies, richly colored walls, lush gardens, bustling markets, joyous festivals, an extraordinary array of galleries, exquisite shops and performances by world-renowned musicians and dance troupes – that all add to the richness of life in San Miguel.
“The essence of one of the loveliest cities in Mexico is presented full of poetry, charm and beauty… because San Miguel is a jewel and colonial reliquary recognized throughout the world.”
— Laura Obregón Baranda, Poet Laureate of Mexico —
“Life is a journey – through places and relationships – with ourselves and with each other. Opening ourselves to other cultures with respect and understanding of our different histories lives and hopes has been our greatest joy, experiences for which we are eternally grateful.”
— Cathi & Steven House —
Cathi & Steven House | House + House Architects
For over 40 years Cathi and Steven House of House + House Architects have crafted intimate, personal architecture, producing a diverse body of work reflecting their passion for site specific, well-choreographed buildings throughout California, Florida, Hawaii, Mexico, Japan, Africa, and the Caribbean.
Having received more than 50 design awards, their work has been featured in numerous national and international publications including two monographs, House + House Architects: Choreographing Space and Houses in the Sun: light movement embrace. They have lectured throughout the United States, as well as Mexico and Italy, and have traveled extensively across Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America documenting vernacular architecture.
Their extensive studies and photographs of vernacular architecture have been published in two books. Mediterranean Villages: An Architectural Journey, celebrates their investigations throughout the Mediterranean — the hilltowns of central Italy, the Aegean Islands of Greece, the Dalmatian coast, and the Andalusian region of southern Spain. Villages of West Africa: an intimate journey across time, documents the vernacular architecture, people, land, villages, artisans, textiles and cultures of seven countries in West Africa.
Cathi and Steven have served on Virginia Tech’s Architecture Advisory Council and they both currently serve as advisors on the Timbuktu Center for Strategic Studies on the Sahel. Based on their firm belief in travel as an important way to learn, they created CASA (Center for Architecture, Sustainability + Art), a study abroad program for architecture students based in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
