The thatched-roof beach villa is in Careyes, Mexico, which is in the middle of nowhere, which is exactly where it is supposed to be. The magnificent house is called simply Casa Triton, a moniker that makes reference to the trident-toting, conch-blowing Greek god of the water and sea.

Casa Triton, a holiday house that is filled with fun and laughter, is where the owners – a high-powered Swiss business-owner, his wife and their teenage daughter go to get away from it all. It is their oasis, their private space, where the beaches are so bare that they can walk for miles without seeing so much as a single soul. And that, after all, is the whole idea.

“We are 35 meters above sea level,” the owner says, “and there are 250 degrees of views. It’s the spot where Triton, who is half man, half sea serpent, is blowing his horn, the spot where the winds are turning.”

Casa Triton, and its adjacent older sibling, Casa Maoritse, a pretty-sounding appellation that means turtle in the language of Mexico’s indigenous Indian tribes, are set on 3 acres of the fabled 1968 resort developed by Gian Franco Brignone, who modeled it after The Aga Khan’s Costa Esmeralda resort in Sardinia. Casa Maoritse, the smaller home, was built in the late 1970s; Casa Triton, which is on a grander scale, was finished this year. Marco Aldaco, Mexico’s pre-eminent architect who designed both the homes, says that he considers Casa Triton not merely a house but “a work of art. All of the houses in Careyes are connected by common geographical elements but each has a unique personality that fits each owner. It is a very beautiful property, and with an opportunity like this, I did not want to come up with an average solution, so it was a challenge.”

In fact, it was one of the other Aldaco homes in Careyes that so enchanted the Swiss businessman that he decided to build the two villas.   

“I was spending the weekend there on business with friends,” he says. “I saw the house, which had been designed by Aldaco, under a full moon, when it was raining. And I fell in love instantly. I decided at that time that if I ever do something here, I would do it with Aldaco. He’s more artist than architect.”

The pair of houses, which are set in a protected wilderness area and are surrounded by a huge garden with more than 300 cacti and some 1,000 bougainvillea, are virtually cut off from the world – Careyes, and almost nothing else, is between Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo and the only place that offers a semblance of civilization is a postage-stamp of a village called Zapata that’s so tiny that you can’t find it unless you know it’s there.

“It’s a great place to be quiet,” the owner says, adding that the residents, just like the careyes or turtle, can shut themselves up in their own shells if they so desire. “I’ve traveled a lot, and it’s one of the most impressive places on the sea that I know. You’re out of the world. I go there to forget about the world, and once I’m there, I forget about everything else. I don’t make any plans when I’m there.”

The family, whose others homes are in London and Geneva, lives by the swimming pool, an undulating, sculptural creation that Aldaco designed to follow the contours of the land. “You never have to dress up,” the owner says. “We are in polo shirts and shorts most of the time and in jeans in the evening. One bathing suit is all you need for two weeks.”

After a day of recreation – they play polo and tennis and go fishing, hunting, boating and horseback riding – they dine on the floral-filled terrace, where candlelight merges with the evening light to create a soft glow. Alcoves in the bedrooms make delightfully cozy places for before-bedtime reading.

Only shutters, no glass, cover the windows, allowing the owners magnificent views of the land and sea and wildlife. “It’s a wilderness, and the open design of the house makes you feel you’re a part of it,” the owner says. “Sometimes, I just watch the flights of flocks of pelicans. There also are other birds and bears, scorpions, crocodiles and pumas, although I’ve never seen a puma.”

Although the owner first saw Careyes during a raging rainstorm, the area gets only 21 days of rainfall, between July and September, each year. “The weather is incredible,” he says. “And the water temperature is always 82 degrees.”

Casa Triton was designed not only to connect with nature but also to commune with it. Says Aldaco, “My theory is that houses should be contemporary, regional, original and without complication in form. They should be logical and joyous and easy to clean up. The space should be appropriate for the people who contemplate in peace this wonderful world.”

Although Casa Triton looks like it sprang up out of the water naturally at the sound of the God’s conch shell, Aldaco went to great lengths to make sure that he placed it in exactly the right spot. He says he “communicated with the earth or soil, nature and with the view” and walked the property with an assistant, who marked the boundaries with white cement. “I searched for optical relations,” he says. “And I measured the levels of the sun and shade in different areas.”     

The design of Casa Triton places a premium on privacy: The 6,000-square-foot complex is comprised of three separate bungalows – Triton; Orguidea Azul or Blue Orchids; and Flor de Luna or Moon Flower – that are joined only by paths that, according to the owner, are designed to “begin and end nowhere.”

The interior of Casa Triton also reflects this design philosophy. “One of the very important things in my work,” Aldaco says, “is the communion between interior and exterior spaces. I make sure that the terraces, the furniture and windows are all in a natural order so that they are in sync with the rocks, the sea, the beaches and the mountains.”

The result is a space so welcoming, so relaxing that the owner, who recently retired, can’t wait to spend more than his usual four weeks per year at his beloved Casa Triton.    

“I love the storms,” he says. “I love to read a book by the light of the lightning during a storm. It’s like Wagner. If you like Mozart, you go to the Caribbean.”