Right, Hacienda Wabi, one of the practice’s projects
‘Atmosphere is as important as function,’ declare the RA! team. It’s a statement that permeates the studio’s operation, and it is central to its ethos that recognises emotion to be as strong a power in architecture as technical performance. Co-founders Cristóbal Ramírez de Aguilar, Pedro Ramírez de Aguilar and Santiago Sierra explain: ‘We understand architecture as a sequence of spaces not as a static object, but as a transition.'
Casa LL
Meet RA!, the architecture studio from Mexico City
They continue: 'Narratives are what make space memorable, so we focus on building through a series of emotions. Our process has a cinematic quality: through a series of illustrations, we create a storyboard of theoretical emotions that guide the design.’
Casa LL
RA! was founded in 2017 and has achieved a series of recognitions in its career so far, including a prestigious Félix Candela award in 2019 for its proposal for a Museo Nacional de Arquitectura. ‘Working on that project helped us establish many of the core principles that define how we conceive architecture today,’ the partners add.
Casa LL
RA’s portfolio showcases a broad range of typologies, spanning architecture, but also editorial design, film, art, interiors and construction. It is this polymathic attitude that keeps them active and interested, ‘working within a continuous loop of tools that move from analogue to digital and post-digital to communicate our ideas’. All these approaches feed into their design process and ongoing efforts to convey the essence of their concepts into space. ‘Each typology nourishes the others, allowing us to gain a broader understanding of the relationships between different disciplines,’ they say.
Hacienda Wabi
Their first completed house, Casa LL in Tepoztlán, built in 2024, was a key moment for the firm, which took the opportunity to show off its contemporary aesthetic, drawing on Mexico’s local sensibilities. Its magical setting at the foot of the Aztec Tepozteco pyramid was captivating, and it pushed them to engage in a deep dialogue with the scheme’s wider surroundings.
LAIVA
RA! is developing projects in Mexico, the US, Costa Rica and Spain. A housing complex in the Tulum jungle will soon be joined by a slew of new work, from residential master plans to hotels, bars and private homes. And if you ask them what the architecture world needs more of, it’s not specific projects, but equality in the field. ‘We would love to see more female-led practices,’ they say. ‘We believe women have much to teach us in how architecture should be made and how a studio should be run. Mexico has a lot of emerging female practices, and many of them are important references for our own work.’
Seaside
This article is part of a series on Mexican architects that appears in the January 2026 Next Generation issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News + from 4 December 2025. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today
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