This residential building in the San Pedro de los Pinos neighborhood of Mexico City seeks to achieve high urban density with 9 units on a lot that is 10m wide and 45m deep. In order to maximize the entry of light and avoid high and narrow ventilation cubes, 8 units were grouped vertically around 2 shared courtyards (the ninth unit faces the street). This scheme generates a typology of vertical units of 4 levels in which the staircase acts as a dynamic element that filters light into the depth of the dwelling. The vertical typology also allows each house to have a variety of outdoor spaces: a patio on the first floor, French balconies and a terrace on the intermediate levels and a roof garden.

These vertical units are accessed from a wide, high internal corridor, full of vegetation and open to the outdoors, thus avoiding stairs or public elevators in the complex. It is a meeting space in direct contact with the street through a large glazed facade and directly supervised by the doorman. Both the interior and exterior facades of the residential complex consist of a system of vertical brackets between which planters, railings and sunshades are placed to provide privacy and protect the interiors from the sun. These red corrugated sheet metal elements and the abundant vegetation generate kaleidoscopic urban courtyards of multiple levels, dimensions and perspectives.

Text provided by the architects.

La entrada CA22 se publicó primero en Global Spaces.

This Community Cultural Center exhibits the archeological and textile wealth of Teotitlán del Valle, a village in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. The principal volume, facing the village square, houses the Museum which will host the collections and activities of the present Teotitlán Museum of History. In formal terms, the project is governed by the aesthetics of the immediate context, which determine the height, color, and materials used. The secondary volume contains the Municipal Library and a service zone. The area occupied by both buildings on the site represents just 18% of the whole surface area, leaving a large public space of plaza and gardens. This helps to improve the pedestrian routes passing across the site and connecting with the main square, inserting the new public spaces created by the Cultural Center into the circuit of existing plazas that define the urban structure of the village.

La entrada Teotitlán del Valle Cultural Center se publicó primero en Global Spaces.

La Laguna is a former textile and yarn factory built in the 1920s in Mexico City’s Doctores neighborhood. The design involves the deteriorated factory’s recovery and enhancement into the vibrant complex that currently houses more than 25 motley creative and productive firms (including carpentry and textile workshops, coffee brewers, and ceramics studios, among others).

Although the historic building is not cataloged, the intervention project proposes to preserve the original exterior facades and focus on the interior courtyards that had accumulated a large amount of equipment, roofs, and annexes over time, losing its function as a spatial connector between the different areas of the complex. The reconversion strategy was designed to be implemented gradually, over the course of several years (more than ten years), and with a flexible group of tenants using the complex simultaneously.

La entrada La Laguna se publicó primero en Global Spaces.