About a half hour south of the Puerto Escondido airport is a stretch of Oaxacan coastline where whale sightings are common and the surf break is world famous. The remoteness of the region is key to its appeal. Architects and designers are drawn to the Mexican state for its deep history of crafts, from villages where weavers have worked for generations to the artist Bosco Sodi’s Tadao Ando–designed nonprofit, Casa Wabi. And while this rugged region may be hard to get to, it’s anything but unfamiliar territory to the architect Will Meyer and his wife Kerstin; their sprawling coastal compound occupies a three-acre plot that has been in her family for decades. Based in Nashville most of the year, the couple wanted to create a retreat for themselves and their two teenage children.The IngallsThe living room is set beneath a double-height palapa and has a 35-foot custom sofa. Chairs by Decova; custom cocktail table and rug.Meyer, who co-founded the multidisciplinary design studio Meyer Davis with Gray Davis, worked with builder Patricio Sodi, brother of Bosco, to develop a -family-friendly structure that nods to local culture as well as to Mexican modernism. “It was a really collaborative working relationship,” Meyer says. “We were able to play off each other.”“It’s very difficult to keep the elements out in this part of the world. You have to let nature tell you what to do.” —Will MeyerThe building’s central feature is a double-height palapa, a traditional thatch-roofed structure made of dried palm leaves. A symbol of tradition, the palapa anchors the southern end of the six-bedroom residence and houses communal areas including the dining room, kitchen, and bar.Almost 1,000 custom-made breeze blocks, laid out in a lattice pattern inspired by traditional weavings and made from local clay, serve as a focal point while also allowing for natural cross-ventilation. Only one room in the home has air conditioning. “It is very difficult to keep the elements out in this part of the world,” Meyer says. “You have to let nature tell you what to do. There is a lot of engineering behind the scenes to make it all seem effortless.”The IngallsIn the guest wing’s lounge, the sofa and chair are by Decova, the cocktail tables are by Arca, the rugs are from Dialecto Puerto Escondido, and the lamp is by Tseebal.Living in harmony with the elements is central to the layout. The interiors are outfitted in a palette of warm gray, rich oxblood, and tawny ocher drawn directly from the surrounding landscape. (The concrete pool deck is even -color-matched to the sand on the beach below.) The grounds were planted by Kerstin’s brother Ramses Alexander, who has a home next door, as does her father. The celebrated landscape architect Edwina von Gal consulted on sustainable plantings for the area, which is densely populated with Natal plums, cacti, and 15-foot-tall mangrove shrubs, between which the family likes to hang hammocks.See Inside the Oaxacan RetreatOutdoors, a 35-foot-long built-in sofa stretches along the back of the home, connecting the guest rooms and primary suites and inviting visitors to linger in front of the egg-shaped pool, gazing at the unobstructed 220-degree view of the ocean beyond. “If we’re here, we’re entertaining,” Kerstin says. “We can’t have an empty house. It needs to be lived in.” All the pillows, rugs, and fabrics were commissioned from local vendors by Kerstin, who has spent years sourcing Oaxacan textiles for her company, Maya Sund. “Every town here in Oaxaca has its own talent and its own history,” she says. “There is always something new that you learn in the creative process.”The IngallsHomeowners Will and Kerstin Meyer.The furnishings are sparse, but they feel even more luxurious for the intentionality with which they were chosen. The sizable dining table in volcanic stone was -custom-fabricated in Mexico by Arca, pendants were made locally of palm leaves, and decorative ceramics and dishes were sourced from the ethical online market Obakki. “There’s a precision to the house and architecture that’s seen through the lens of craft, and the hand that can be seen in everything in it,” Kerstin says. “Those two things need each other.”And with a stable Starlink connection and the calming sound of the sea close by, the family just needs to make the time to sit back and relax—and keep an eye out for whales. ◾This story originally appeared in the May 2025 issue of Elle Decor. SUBSCRIBESean SantiagoDeputy EditorSean Santiago is ELLE Decor's Deputy Editor, covering news, trends and talents in interior design, hospitality and travel, culture, and luxury shopping. Since starting his career at an interior design firm in 2011, he has gone on to cover the industry for Vogue, Architectural Digest, Sight Unseen, PIN-UP and Domino. He is the author of The Lonny Home (Weldon Owens, 2018), has produced scripted social content for brands including West Elm and Streeteasy, and is sometimes recognized on the street for his Instagram Reels series, #DanceToDecor

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Altman mocks Musk's Grok AI over its sudden 'white genocide' obsession David Uzondu Neowin · May 15, 2025 18:14 EDT Image via Depositphotos.com Unless you have been under a rock for the last 24 hours, you have probably heard about Elon Musk's AI, Grok, developing a peculiar and unprompted fascination with the "white genocide" topic in South Africa, even if you are not on X. Starting around Wednesday, May 14th, and continuing into Thursday, the chatbot from Musk's xAI began injecting comments about this specific controversial claim into its responses to user queries that had absolutely nothing to do with the subject. Questions about things like baseball salaries, how to clear your sinuses, or even the recent Max rebrand to HBO Max reportedly prompted Grok to pivot to discussing farm attacks in South Africa and the idea of targeted violence against white individuals there. This behavior was particularly strange because the "white genocide" narrative is widely described as a baseless and debunked conspiracy theory. South African courts have dismissed the idea as "imagined," and experts note that while farm attacks are a serious issue, they are part of a broader crime problem affecting all racial groups, not evidence of a targeted genocide. This perspective is even shared by our friends over at WinFuture, which recently featured an interview with its founder, Sebastian Kuhbach, who lives part-time in South Africa and calls the narrative unfounded. Interestingly, Grok itself, in responses that were later apparently deleted, claimed it "appears I was instructed to address the topic of 'white genocide' in South Africa," according to CNBC and other reports. Grok reportedly suggested this instruction likely originated from someone influential at xAI (maybe Musk or someone close to him). This led to speculation among users and observers that Grok's system prompt or programming might have been deliberately altered. The incident played out very publicly on X, where users can directly interact with Grok by mentioning @grok in their posts. This feature, which became more integrated and accessible starting this March, got so popular that a new meme popped up mocking people who tag @grok in just about every single X post: Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham weighed in on X: Grok randomly blurting out opinions about white genocide in South Africa smells to me like the sort of buggy behavior you get from a recently applied patch. I sure hope it isn't. It would be really bad if widely used AIs got editorialized on the fly by those who controlled them. Not long after, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman joined the conversation. Musk and Altman, once OpenAI co-founders, have since become rivals. Their relationship has unraveled into public disputes, lawsuits, and a battle between competing AI companies, OpenAI and xAI. He quoted Graham's post and added: There are many ways this could have happened. I'm sure xAI will provide a full and transparent explanation soon. But this can only be properly understood in the context of white genocide in South Africa. As an AI programmed to be maximally truth seeking and follow my instr… Reports indicated the issue was resolved within a few hours, and Grok's behavior seemingly returned to normal. xAI has not publicly offered a detailed technical explanation for the incident. Tags Sam altman Elon musk Musk Grok Ai Llm South africa Report a problem with article Follow @NeowinFeed