Founded in 2016, Palma is headed up by Ilse Cárdenas, Regina de Hoyos and Diego Escamilla, all graduates of the School of Architecture at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). Now with bases in Mexico City and Sayulita, the trio work fluidly across scales and typologies, leading a team of seven while placing agility, experimentation and a sense of restless curiosity at the core of their approach.
From left, Regina de Hoyos, Diego Escamilla and Ilse Cárdenas of Palma
Meet Palma, the emerging Mexican studio between Mexico City and Sayulita
‘At the heart of our practice lies a dual commitment to both permanent architecture and ephemeral interventions,’ the team say. ‘We see each realm as vital to the other. Permanent works allow us to deepen the dialogue with context and everyday life, while ephemeral projects open space for bold experimentation. Nearly half of our work to date has been temporary, and this balance between the two realms continually expands our way of thinking, keeping our process dynamic and open-ended.’
Two schemes – one permanent, the other temporary – have marked defining moments in the studio’s trajectory. A 50 sq m bungalow in Litibu, completed in 2020, is one of its earliest built works and combines concrete forms with a woven palm leaf roof. ‘Despite its modest scale, it allowed us to express many of the ideas that continue to define our architecture: clarity, simplicity and attention to material,’ the team say. Meanwhile, an installation for the Concéntrico Festival 2021 in Logroño, Spain (created with Madrid studio Hanghar) brought the international spotlight on to the studio, reinforcing their belief that ‘temporary projects can be powerful laboratories for experimentation’.
An ongoing commission for a clifftop home on Mexico’s Pacific Coast perfectly reflects their overall approach. Combining a 1970s structure and a new extension, the scheme might seem like a run-of-the-mill renovation on paper, but for Palma, it has provided precious space for material testing and developing an ongoing dialogue between architecture and its context.
Trials and tests continually add to Palma’s knowledge base and creative arsenal and, in order to make that happen, working with other craft and design professionals is key to the studio’s practice. ‘Collaboration has become essential to the way we work. It has broadened our perspective and allowed us to learn from different contexts, methods and ways of thinking about architecture,’ they say. ‘In contrast, we feel that, in Mexico there is still a strong sense of individualism within the profession. We believe embracing collaboration more fully could foster a more generous and exploratory architectural culture, where projects grow from dialogue and shared curiosity.’
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