On sunny days, a mysterious arc of rosy light rises above a perfectly normal patio wall. Only upon entering the front patio of Patrick and Leslie Apodaca’s Albuquerque North Valley home does it become clear what’s going on. When the sun hits the interior side of the patio wall, painted a super-saturated fuschia pink, the color bounces back onto the beige stucco wall of the house.

Inside the patio, hidden from casual passers-by, the pink is throwing a party assisted by a deep evening blue and a goldenrod yellow, all the colors chaperoned by an absolute discipline of form.

The Apodaca patio carries DNA from an impressive architectural heritage. Between the World Wars, the International style flourished in Europe, producing aggressively modern houses stripped of all trim, their pure forms created in industrial materials.