Mexico City-based architecture firm Archetonic has overhauled a minimalist family home into a workspace in a western city suburb. Defined by its domestic previous life and verdant surroundings, the new design segues the pensive quality of nature into fluid working facilities.
To passers-by, the office's minimal façade and residential backdrop suggest no trace of the building’s professional occupation. ‘The idea of generating a more cosy and homely working experience naturally and unwillingly comes from recycling a residential structure,’ explain the architects, ‘otherwise the result would have been a more conventional office solution.’
From the wide sliding doors that open up to a patio, to the steel girders overhead, and the small dipping pond, the office indeed breaks convention. Daylight abundantly drapes over dark marble flooring and light wooden wall fixtures in the entrance, producing an interior ambience more akin to a spa or hotel lobby than a reception. Meeting rooms in various configurations orbit this central space, each with an individual outdoor terrace overlooking the east-facing garden flooded with sunlight and calming tree views.
‘We wanted the vegetation, outside garden and terraces to be part of a strong contemplative experience’
Design drama unfolds beyond the western wall, which slides to a reveal a proportionate meeting-cum-living space. Furniture design by Esrawe, Blu Dot and Dejate Querer instills a homely character to the left, and a formal space to the right. A two-tone sculpture by Mexican artist Rodrigo Garagarza from the ‘Matatenas/Jacks’ series sits between the two, acting as a bridge between the room’s twin personalities. Gentle contrasts can be found on the first floor, where white furniture design and fittings are juxtaposed.
Focus is quickly shifted, however, to a façade of green woven plastic cables beyond a swivelling glass wall at the end of the corridor. This winds around to the building’s reverse, filtering in natural views to another set of private workspaces and their corresponding terraces. With a rooftop garden topping the space off, it would be easy to assume that the focus of the project is to encourage an outdoor working ethic. Archetonic rather sees this piece of office design acting as a stimulus for new ideas.
‘We didn’t quite want to inspire outdoor working, nor to deny it. The objective was to blur the limits between in and out, in a way that allow the user to enjoy the outside while inhabiting any space of the project. We wanted the vegetation, outside garden and terraces to be part of a strong contemplative experience.’
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Archetonic website
-
Curtains up, Kid Harpoon rethinks the sound of Broadway production ‘Art’He’s crafted hits with Harry Styles and Miley Cyrus; now songwriter and producer Kid Harpoon (aka Tom Hull) tells us about composing the music for the new, all-star Broadway revival of Yasmina Reza’s play ‘Art’
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekHere in the UK, summer seems to be fading fast. Moody skies and showers called for early-autumn rituals for the Wallpaper* team: retreating into the depths of the Tate Modern, slipping into shadowy cocktail bars, and curling up with a good book
-
To celebrate 50 years in business, Giorgio Armani is opening up his extraordinary archive to everybodyLaunched at the Venice Film Festival, Armani/Archivio is a digital archive charting 50 years of Giorgio Armani through the house’s most memorable designs
-
The Architecture Edit: Wallpaper’s houses of the monthWallpaper* has spotlighted an array of remarkable architecture in the past month – from a pink desert home to structures that appears to float above the ground. These are the houses and buildings that most captured our attention in August 2025
-
Estudio Ome on how the goal of its landscapes ‘is to provoke, even through a subtle detail, an experience’The Mexico City-based practice explores landscape architecture in Mexico, France and beyond, seeking to unite ‘art and ecology’
-
Pretty in cactus-inspired pink, this Mexican desert house responds to its arid contextCasa Cardona, a pink house by architects Sensacional Dinamica Mexicana, is a multigenerational home that celebrates colour and changing light
-
As climate disasters increase, can architecture respond? Kon-tigo, a post-hurricane Acapulco house design, shows us howKon-tigo is a housing project by Manuel Cervantes Estudio, which creates bioclimatic homes that address climate disasters and inequalities in Acapulco, Mexico
-
An eco-friendly Mexican ranch offers sleep under a beautifully crafted brick vaultArchitects Goma have built a Mexican ranch with a stunning red-brick guest pavilion; Rancho El Ameyal is a lush eco-retreat in the central Mexican state of Querétaro
-
In Quintana Roo, a park mesmerises with its geometric pavilionA Mexican events venue in the state of Quintana Roo rings the changes with a year-round pavilion that fosters a strong connection between its users and nature
-
Casa La Paz is a private retreat in Baja California full of texture and theatricsLudwig Godefroy designed Casa La Paz in Baja California, Mexico to create deep connections between the home and its surroundings
-
Pedro y Juana's take on architecture: 'We want to level the playing field’Mexico City-based architects Pedro y Juana bring their transdisciplinary, participatory approach to the Mexico pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025; find out more
