BCA Taller de Diseño was commissioned to intervene this space in the heart of the city of Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico. Located in José María Morelos and Miguel Barragán streets, the project’s main goal was to translate from architecture —following a strategy of minimal intervention and maximum use of resources and existing elements— the power that sets the pace of the artistic and cultural life of the area because of the presence of Universidad Veracruzana´s music faculty, and at the same time contributing to the reactivation of this down town sector and its nightlife with an offer directed to diverse music lovers.
This is the origin of CAUZ, a space that adapts to the pre-existence of a cafeteria (Flor Catorce) from the area that, under an eclectic and hybrid environment, has established itself as the community´s reference point during the day. Intervened in a first expansion, the office contributed to designing new areas for the restaurant connected with interior gardens, a new library that functions as access and another one inside with the flexibility to run as a restaurant, bookshop and concert forum with capacity to hold up to fifty people.
The project is about a rehabilitation of a house built in the 50´s. The client asked to reclaim the structure of this cold, humid, dark house and open to the garden. The Project reclaimed the original structure by revealing what was underneath layers of materials after years of alterations. What allowed to release the essence of the structure: 21 cm / 8.26” thick brick walls and concrete slabs.
The extraordinary natural surroundings of the peninsula of Baja California with its semi-desert landscape in shades of ocher, contrasting with the deep blue of the Sea of Cortes, provides an ideal selected context for the construction of a new landmark hotel for the country.
Celebrating the integration between landscape, architecture and art, Solaz Los Cabos covers a total area of 9.8 hectares along a section of the coast that includes unique topographical formations. The architectural concept was guided by this need for the proper integration of the construction into its surroundings, achieved through the use of organic forms that refer to the movement of the waves, producing an attractive series of volumes that are adapted to the location. The selection of materials, planting and construction methods reinforce this concept of integration, and were meticulously studied to ensure they would suit this beautiful site.
Location: San José del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Photography: Rafael Gamo
Design Manager: Alejandro Espejel, Cándido Hernández, Luis Pucheta
Design Team: Iovany Fuentes, David Pazos, Miguel Baranda, Marco Pucheta, Santiago García de Letona, Giordana Rojas, Daniela Camarena, Carlos Nuñez, Francisco Barrera
Casa del Lago is a detached house located within a real estate development where all its lots adjoin a water body in their backyards.
The users are a multicultural couple of mature adults. The objective of the project was that the house will take advantage of the characteristics of the complex and that the open spaces will be part of the dynamics of daily use. Likewise, the house should remember the Yucatecan culture and have the capacity to house the collection of objects of artistic and / or emotional value of the owners.
CRAFT Arquitectos´s projects are notable for their pursuit of designing efficient spaces and studying all the possible interactions of the different areas, inside and out of the architectonic volume, with their immediate surroundings.
The architects started from a three sections plan to create a central axis where all the social areas of the house: office, dinning and family room, were located. The bedrooms and services are on every side of this section. With this approach the visitor enters through a completely open broad rectangular atrium with the slab left apparent, a grand floated and perforated lattice is the central feature and when sliding the panels the kitchen is unveiled.
MOLE Restaurant is originated from the mix of elements with different natures which, when gathered in the same space, relinquish their original state and find a new identity altogether, as though as we were talking about a good cooking recipe.
It is a space than interacts differently with each user, depending on their baggage of experiences or memories and on the affinity or familiarity that each one has with the elements contained within the space. There isn’t a unique way of living it or understanding it since the posibilites rely on the individual and thus are enjoyed around the table. It is rustic, but also feminine, it is complex, subtle, elegant and ephemeral but extremely eclectic in summary. It’s a bunch of living spaces interacting as a whole.
Albia is a twenty-floor office building located on a property between Antonio L. Rodriguez and Blvd. Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, two high-velocity avenues in the west of Monterrey. Its structure is composed of visible concrete frames that are expressed on the facade as vertical mullions. The offices are located in a reflective glass volume, with a north-south orientation, on a quadruple height base.
The lower part of the building is divided into three glass volumes separated by large voids. The access passes through the voids to the lobby in the central volume. The other two volumes, also connected by bridges on the third level, house shops on the ground floor and two levels of offices.
The proposal seize and multiplies the distribution of the existing building, frees walls to generate spatial fluidity and unify the premises programme. “The encounter” is the key characteristic of this single-family home project for a couple with two daughters.
On plan the connection between interior and exterior is achieved through a simple materials palette, the entrance hall goes into the dining room and from the patio the slate stone comes in to form part of the living room furniture. In section the house is organized around a triple-height central space wrapped by the run of the staircase.
The pavilion 2 spaces 2 moments is the duality in which the outer space, the large scale space on everyone’s sight, captures the attention of pedestrians with a powerful yet small light threshold, inviting them to discover what is beyond, creating the first moment. The inner space is the second moment of the experience. Inside this small and quiet place made by a geometrical complex surface formed with more than 60 triangle pieces and 1,800 joints, 2 facing mirrors highlight the perspective inside the pavilion, while color and different kinds of lighting nurture this experience and create an endless loop of the inner space. The serenity of the pavilion contrast with the dynamics of geometry, perspective and fullness of color.
Monterrey 55 is a restoration and redevelopment project located in one of the most upcoming, upbeat, re–developing districts in Mexico City: La Colonia Roma. In the 19th century, Monterrey Av. used to be a tree decorated boulevard with majestic residences where the intellectual elite used to live. Unfortunately, due to the new urbanization practices of the late 70's, Monterrey Avenue’s life changed drastically putting these old houses in jeopardy. This is where this project comes in.
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