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As a seasoned designer who has worked all over the world, Colombian-born Juan Montoya has known an astonishing variety of clients. Early in his career he found himself specializing in offices for dentists, which left him with an almost clinical sense of detail. From his long-established base in New York, Montoya has since worked on residential and commercial projects across the Americas and Europe. But nothing quite prepared him for the unusually ticklish task of designing a new apartment for his mother in Bogotá.

"Let's say the dynamics were different," he says with a broad smile. "But it was a lovely project and something I had been wanting to do for some time, because my mother had been living in a place that was no longer suited to her needs. When my sister decided to sell an apartment she owned in a very nice residential area called Rosales, near the hills outside Bogotá, I snapped it up."

Baroque churches and Spanish colonial architecture still characterize certain areas of Bogotá, and the old families of the city, like the Montoyas, take great pride in their homes—not least because the chilly weather of this mountain-encircled capital often keeps them indoors. Ines Isaacs de Montoya's new apartment is on the first floor of an elegant modern building, but, as in more traditional Colombian houses, the fireplace, set just to one side of the dining area, is a focal point. As he began picturing how he would reconfigure the space, Juan Montoya kept in mind not only his mother's personal comfort but also the fact that she loves to entertain her family and friends.

"I wanted her to approve of everything we were going to do. After all, she wasn't only my mother, she was my client! The basic layout consisted of a central indoor patio that functioned like a hub leading into all the main rooms. We also kept a large swath of space at the south-facing end to create a terrace covered in green bamboo. That way the apartment doesn't feel cut off—it's connected to plants and to nature, and the whole area, with its reflecting pool and contemporary Colombian sculpture, lights up at night."

Other considerations included private quarters for her live-in nurse-cum-companion and a media room where her five grandchildren could disappear to play games and watch television. "Obviously, this was a very intimate kind of project," he reflects. "But I approached it very much as I do everything. I like a layered effect as you walk through an interior, with each successive space announcing a new beginning. There has to be a changing pattern of effects and decorative surprises. They can be achieved simply enough. All you have to do is introduce a striking object or painting or suddenly vary the scale."

Some of the furniture was designed by Montoya himself, which he created to blend in with an informed choice of Colombian antiques and pictures. "She was quite stubborn about keeping some family heirlooms that I was less than enthusiastic about. But in the grander scheme of things that's fine, too.

"Look," Montoya concludes, "I can't say this was the easiest project I've ever done, but it's certainly one of the most satisfying, because not a day goes past without my mother calling me to say how happy she is in her new place."