To combat the heat, the house utilises 18-inch thick external walls and a soothing lime plaster interior, effectively keeping the rooms cool and breezy. 

Yeah, 18 inch thick adobe walls work great in the Arizona heat as well. But it costs an arm and a leg to build.

Building into the side of a hill, or 5 feet down into the soil also works well. Or burying a water tank that you then pump through the walls/floor to cool the place, similar to some under floor heating systems.

There are a number of ways to deal with heat passively, or actively without resorting to direct cooling methods, but all of them either require a bespoke piece of land, or custom architecture and floorplans. Or you can just overpower it with Evaporative Cooling and/or Air Conditioning regardless of the rest. There's a reason that's the go to answer.