Pabellón El Eco 2013

The courtyard of this museum, one of Mathias Goeritz’s greatest works, is an iconic space in Mexico City. Its emptiness helps it to stand out against the density of the urban fabric, and the significance of the walls and those who created them contextualize it in the city’s history.

Revealing this void was the decisive strategy of the intervention, which found its form by generating a structure that makes it possible to materialize the volume it occupies, marking out and drawing attention to its powerful and unique geometry. The intervention floats in the interior, separated from the perimeter in a way that always honors the original work.

The first step was the process of filling the void with a three-dimensional grid—a system of 1 m3 modules in metal rebar—followed by an excavation of the resulting construction, removing modules to make it a livable space. The binding system employed hand-worked wire ties, a trade-specific working method that reveals the laborers’ skill.

The resulting construction is an exercise that encourages users to reflect on the relationship between addition and subtraction, and between solid and void.

 

San Rafael, Mexico City, 2013

200 sqm

 

Casa Estudio Hill

The conservation of an ash tree guided each gesture of the project, and led to a composition of volumes designed to form a structure around the tree. In this way, two patios and three volumes intersect in the vertical circulations’ nucleus, and are differentiated by the distinct treatment of the window frames, altering the perception of lightness or solidity.

Designed for a music producer and artist, the house needed to double up as both a living space and a professional recording studio. The acoustic quality and layout of each space mean that every module operates as an extension of the studio. On the ground floor, the dense entrance volume houses the studio itself. This is succeeded by the light, open volume intended as the living area, which is connected at the rear with the main patio where the ash tree is located. Above both lower bodies, linked by the central staircase and courtyard, is the third volume, which contains the bedrooms and private areas, and also opens onto the large ash with its entire façade in a geometric composition of windows. The three volumes connect to the outside in different directions, increasing the entry of natural light and generating views that unite the program’s composition.

Blurring the boundaries between the solid volumes and the voids gives the sense of flow, integrating the interior and the exterior in a single space.

 

Florida, Mexico City, 2013.

220 sqm

Photographs: Onnis Luque

Edificio de Rectoría, Escuela Bancaria y Comercial (EBC)

The proposal for the Rectory Building for the Escuela Bancaria y Comercial (EBC) was based on the premise of paying utmost respect to the pre-existing construction, motivated by the desire to renovate and alter a building with these characteristics. The idea was never to adopt the same design language or camouflage the renovation, but rather to find the right tools to create a dialogue between the two different epochs, without the new interfering with the old. The neutral forms and presence of glass in the material finishes are strategies to make the intervention disappear, thus allowing the existing construction to retain its prominence.

The program’s scale led to the decision to split it into two volumes, interconnected with the original building as subtly as possible: one is more horizontal and rests on the main volume, and the other is a free-standing vertical block that functions as a backdrop to the courtyard.

The existing building’s interior was altered to create a central void that functions as a distributor for the whole complex’s vertical and horizontal communications.

 

Juárez, Mexico City, 2012

3,200 sqm

Photographs: Rodrigo Chapa