Description

Our offices are in a business hub area in Mexico City. The project takes place on one of the first buildings in the neighborhood, a house originally built in the 1950s.

Flanked by other residences the house stood and functioned for decades and as its context changed, the house simply started to deteriorate. Today there are office buildings on its three opposite corners and each block in the area is buzzing with commercial and business activity.

The high cost of real estate properties among other sustainable, urban and design principles, have inspired architects to make the most of pre-existing infrastructure; recycling structures is a State-of-the-practice design methodology around the globe.

We saw the potential of this building and had the vision to convert it into our firm’s headquarters; we preserved the house, giving it added value and a cutting-edge look.

The entire project involved restoring the residence and carrying out a strategic intervention to grow, recycle and transform, and to make room for the new program comprising 604 square meters of offices on 4 levels.

At every stage of the process, we considered the proportions and original volume of the building, as well as the openings and entrances; we also kept the original details and moldings. We created a smooth connection between the previous residence and the added elements, to produce a contemporary work that makes the most of the pre-existing building.

The metal-plate roofs refer to the proportions of the house below, and a metal mesh, tensioned between these roofs, give the building its discrete, clean and elegant look, while at nighttime the lighting reveals its more complex characteristic—its history.