In 2017, Deborah was walking on the beach with no other people except a lone fisherman: “It was like a dream,” she says. The Venezuelan artist was visiting from New York City for an art fair at the time, but she felt a pull to stay. After enough asking around, Deborah found and bought a lot just a six-minute stroll from the beach. Together with her longtime friend, designer Ana Lasala, Deborah began envisioning a home that could embrace Puerto Escondido’s contrasts. Here, the Pacific brings waves that attract surfers from all over the world but also hurricanes. And the abundant sunshine—another tourist draw—demands creative solutions for shade and cooling. profundaa and analasala, who runs architecture firm Lasala & Lasala with her sister, came up with Palapa Concreta, a 1,560-square-foot structure reminiscent of an A-frame cabin enclosed by a palapa roof—a traditional thatching made with palm leaves. The only walls on the lower level of the home are around the bathroom and where the r...