Architecture news: Letter from Mexico
BNKR Arquitectura: Sunset Chapel, Acapulco, Mexico
BNKR’s sunset chapel is made to look like just another colossal granite rock atop Acapulco’s hills. By elevating the chapel five meters into the air, the architects took full advantage of the views while paying respect to the site’s vegetation
While Mexican architects felt the economical crisis long after it hit the US and Europe, the country's economy is already showing signs of recovery. The temporary halt on construction, which affected everything from cultural centres to hotels and museums, has ended and new projects are now springing up in all corners of the country, from Guadalajara to Monterrey and Acapulco. New offices are also emerging and the picture for young Mexican architects is buoyant once again.
There's also a strong architectural culture in Mexico City, a culture infused by the spirit of working together on competitions and project design. We checked out the current scene, rounding up a series of new projects that define the new wave of Mexican design, with collaboration and cooperation pushed to the fore.
BNKR Arquitectura: Sunset Chapel, Acapulco, Mexico
FREE Fernando Romero: Museo Soumaya, Mexico City
FREE Fernando Romero’s brand new Soumaya Museum is a sculptural block in central Mexico City. Home to the expansive art collection of telecoms billionaire Carlos Slim (Romero’s father-in-law), the museum’s facade is composed of 15,000 aluminium hexagonal modules that wrap an economical substructure. A continuous ramp connects all the facilities, allowing you to make your way slowly through six floors of spectacular exhibition space
FREE Fernando Romero: Museo Soumaya, Mexico City
Productora: Casa Valle de Bravo, Valle de Bravo, Mexico
Productora opted for three shallow rectangular volumes in its Casa Valle de Bravo. Stacked up in a zigzag composition, the volumes provide protected courtyards as well as large terraces that are completely open to Lake Avándaro
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Productora: Casa Valle de Bravo, Valle de Bravo, Mexico
at103: Rehabilitation of Lecumberri Prison/National Archive, Mexico DF
at103 maintained and clarified the formal structure of the panopticon, seen in these renders, without using any allegoric elements. The introverted building is ’ripped’ open and provides free access to the gardens and open spaces of the former prison
at103: Rehabilitation of Lecumberri Prison/National Archive, Mexico DF
Arquitectura 911sc and Hector Esrawe: Sala De Arte Público Siqueiros, Mexico DF
Working in collaboration with Hector Esrawe, Arquitectura 911sc transformed the facade and lobby of Sala de Arte Publico Siqueiros (SAPS), the former home and workshop of one of Mexico’s prominent muralists, David Alfaro Siqueiros. The murals are now visually connected with the street to emphasise the public character of the museum
Arquitectura 911sc and Hector Esrawe: Sala De Arte Público Siqueiros, Mexico DF
Dear Architects: Casa de Uno, Monterrey, México
Each of the spaces in Dear Architects’ Casa de Uno are functionally independent, though the robust black exterior and gorges of light in the interior unite them together. A seemingly heavy steel plate door gives entrance to a ’cut of air’
Dear Architects: Casa de Uno, Monterrey, México
Tatiana Bilbao: Botanical Gardens, Culiacán
Architect Tatiana Bilbao was brought in to set things right in Culiacán’s lush botanical gardens. The new master plan is based on an abstract motif of the branches of a tree superimposed on the existing pathways’ forms. Twelve rocky pavilions house the art-interventions of 30 different artists
Tatiana Bilbao: Botanical Gardens, Culiacán
Fernanda Canales in collaboration arquitectura911sc: Coyoacán Cultural Center, Mexico DF
Fernanda Canales and arquitectura911sc are renovating a 19th century house into a cultural center in the South of Mexico City. A new glazed box stuck to the front façade prominently shows people the way to the library
Rojkind Arquitectos in collaboration with Hector Esrawe: Tori Tori, Mexico City
This new Japanese restaurant in Mexico City (pictured under construction) is another good example of how local Mexican craftsmen can realise digital design by simple means. The two-layer steel lattice covers the facade of an existing house and makes a reference to ivy growing on the existing walls behind it. Designer Hector Esrawe custom-designed all the furniture
Frida Escobedo in collaboration with Jose Rojas: Boca Chica, Acapulco
Frida Escobedo and Jose Rojas have brought an original hotel from the 1950s - designed by pre-eminent Mexican architect Antonio Peláes - back to life. Clean lines and strong geometric forms softened by a palette of vintage green and original terrazzo floors mark the 36 signature rooms in this new boutique hotel in the beach town of Acapulco
Frida Escobedo in collaboration with Jose Rojas: Boca Chica, Acapulco
Richard Meier & Partners: W Santa Fe, Liberty Plaza, Mexico City
The New York-based Modernist has a monumental new work in the offing for Mexico City’s Santa Fe district. Liberty Plaza, a towering complex of three 15-storey towers, will include Starwood’s new W Santa Fe hotel, with far-reaching views from its rooftop pool complex
Richard Meier & Partners: W Santa Fe, Liberty Plaza, Mexico City
Richard Meier & Partners: W Retreat Kanai, Kanai Resort, Yucatan
Meier’s team is also overseeing Starwood’s new W Retreat Kanai, a serene sprawl of geometric precision. The 180-room hotel will be the anchor of the new Kanai Resort on the mangrove-covered Yucatan coast
Richard Meier & Partners: W Retreat Kanai, Kanai Resort, Yucatan
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Gucci’s ‘Design Ancora’ reimagines furniture classics in rich red
Gucci launches new editions of Italian design icons in an alluring deep red, showcased during Milan Design Week 2024
By Simon Mills Published
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Loewe’s Jonathan Anderson drafts artists to create 24 extraordinary lamps at Milan Design Week 2024
Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson commissioned international artists and artisans to explore ‘illumination within the house’ with a series of lamps and lighting installations, shown at a group exhibition at Milan Design Week 2024
By Scarlett Conlon Published
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What are polynucleotides? Trying the skin injectable made from salmon sperm
Polynucleotides are the latest in skin injectables, containing DNA derived from the gonads of salmon. Wallpaper* Beauty & Grooming Editor Hannah Tindle tries them to discover exactly how they work
By Hannah Tindle Published
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Antonio Solá offers a residential haven of calm in Mexico City
Antonio Solá, a new housing project by architecture studio Módica Ledezma, is a complex of four townhouses that offer serenity in the bustle of Mexico City
By Ellie Stathaki Published
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A Mexican artist’s studio makes the most of light and volume in San Miguel Chapultepec
A Mexican artist's studio and home, designed by JJRR in the heart of Mexico City, makes the most of volume and light for its owner, Stefan Brüggemann
By Ellie Stathaki Published
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Pabellón de la Reserva and its sustainable architecture nod to its natural setting
Pabellón de la Reserva by architecture studio Hemaa offers an idyllic countryside getaway, a stone's throw from Mexico City
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated
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Orchid Pavilion channels Japanese philosophy for blossoming flowers in Puerto Escondido
Orchid Pavilion by CCA Centro de Colaboración Arquitectónica provides fitting shelter for flower conservation in Mexico's Casa Wabi
By Ellie Stathaki Published
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Residential development The Village on the Yucatán Peninsula frames its verdant environment
The Village by Sordo Madaleno is a meticulously composed apartment building, built on a strict grid with an emphasis on outside space and connection to site
By Jonathan Bell Published
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1i Arquitectura’s House of the Tall Trees celebrates a spectacular forested site
This Mexican retreat, House of the Tall Trees, makes the most of a wooded site with a striking combination of glass, timber and concrete
By Jonathan Bell Published
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Casa Carrizo was designed as a breezy Mexican beach house
Casa Carrizo, designed by Mexican architecture studio BAAQ, is a beach house sitting on the idyllic shores of Mexico’s Pacific coast
By Ellie Stathaki Published
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Casa HMZ by Lucio Muniain offers a labyrinthine sense of gradual discovery
An intriguing new build by Lucio Muniain channels the best of 20th-century Mexican architecture
By Ana Karina Zatarain Published