This office project is located on Montes Urales, a thoroughfare between Paseo de la Reforma and Palmas—an area in which many finance companies have offices, driving up the cost of real estate and to a certain extent requiring existing properties to be recycled. This has inspired architects to make the most of pre-existing infrastructure and to produce better locations for investors.
Studio Name: ARCHETONIC
Architectural project: Jacobo Micha Mizrahi + Jaime Micha Balas
Collaborators: Jessica Steiner Durán, Désirée Gómez Córdova, Ernesto Rossell Zanotelli.
Area: 835 m2
Year: 2016
Location: Lomas de Chapultepec, CDMX.
Consultants
Structural engineering: Montes de Oca
Construction: Archetonic
Installations: HEAD
Photography Credits: Rafael Gamo y Yoshihiro Koitani
The combination of all these factors lay behind our project at Montes Urales 125,the location of one of the first buildings in the area, a house originally built in the 1950s, a time when it was flanked by other residences. Meanwhile, as its context changed the house simply started to deteriorate. Today there are office buildings on its three opposite corners and each block in the area is buzzing with commercial and business activity.
We saw the potential of this building and had the vision to convert it into our firm’s headquarters; we preserved the house, giving it added value and a cutting-edge look.
The entire project involved restoring the residence and carrying out a strategic intervention in order to grow, recycle and transform, and to make room for the new program comprising 604 square meters of offices on 4 levels.
At every stage of the process we took into account the proportions and original volume of the building, as well as the openings and entrances; we also kept the original details and moldings.
We consider it important create a smooth connection between the space existing today and our intervention, in order to produce a contemporary work that makes the most of a pre-existing building.
The metal-plate roofs refer to the proportions of the house below, and a metal mesh, tensioned between these roofs, give the building its discrete, clean and elegant look, while at night time the lighting reveals its more complex characteristic—its history.
Directors Photo MANDAR LA FOTO DE LA ESCALERA DE LOS TRES.
Abstract about us written in third person.
ARCHETONIC is a Mexico City based study with more than 30 years of practice in architecture projection.
All their projects have the base commitment to improve the environment, paying special attention to design methodology, materials and local processes.
They design spaces with a systemic methodology: self-sufficient and sensitive to the context, with spatial quality and economic responsibility, always keeping in mind that architecture is to inhabit, serve and coexist in society.
Deciphering the formal limitations of design has led them to generate opportunities to experiment and achieve unique spaces; thanks to a wide knowledge of operation they achieve optimal functionality in their projects.
ARCHETONIC approaches challenges of any scale, typology and temporality; taking care of even the smallest detail, from its conception to its execution.
Thier team is guided by instinct mixing experience with young talent. To date they have more than 120 built projects. Their built work has been published and awarded internationally by different institutions and publishers.
