When you’re seeking inspiration, either as a writer or a designer, there’s nothing like a trip to a faraway place. And so it was that I told my Su Casa editor I’d be hoping for a eureka! moment on a spring vacation in Tulum, on the Mexican “Riviera Maya.”

The moment occurred in, of all places, the open shower of our funky, palm-thatched cabaña overlooking the blue waters of the Caribbean. It wasn’t beautiful tile work or elegant fixtures that struck me—no, it was an ordinary beach rock stuck into the wall, which, with considerable skill on the part of the bather, served as a soap shelf. The shelf wasn’t level, so the soap tended to slither away. And it was whitewashed along with everything else, so you couldn’t even make out the character of the stone. Truth is, it was a pretty sorry piece of craftsmanship.

But here’s what got me. This soap shelf was so humble, so entirely uncontrived, so utterly honest: “Need a soap shelf? Quick! Grab a rock and slam it in the wall while the mud’s still wet!” And that’s the essence of natural building: to fulfill a function using whatever is at hand in the natural environment. No trucks, no mines, no sawmills, no Home Depot. No architects, no building codes, no inspections. Forget about plumb, level, and square—beautiful!

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