You never really feel like you’re completely indoors when you step into this home. Everything about it seems to be an invitation to Mother Nature to come in and mingle with the occupants: glass doors opening up to lush gardens, shallow indoor ponds brimming with koi fish, and even unroofed areas that welcome both sunshine and rain showers right in the middle of the house. And nature is only too happy to drop in—stray cats sometimes wander in and settle into the comfy sofas, while a kingfisher has been known to swoop down and pick its lunch right out of the indoor pond.

Owned by architects Mandy and Myrna Mendoza and their daughters, this house is much more open than a typical house, but it’s still far more enclosed than the structures that used to stand on the lot, which used to feature four open kubos scattered throughout the property, two of which housed the beds.


(First Published in Real Living, Real Home section as "Back to Nature" in November 2007. Photos by Miguel Nacianceno; styling by Issa Villar; adapted for use in Female Network)

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