Project Credits & Specs
- Architects: Young & Ayata + Michan Architecture
- Photographs: Rafael Gamo, Rafael Buzali, Alexandra Bové
- Location: México City, México
- Area: 960 m2
- Year: 2020
Project Description
Lot restrictions, typical of this urban neighborhood, drove the initial design decisions. The sloping, mid-block site is sandwiched between two existing single-family homes, both with the potential to accommodate future vertical construction.
With this in mind, Young & Ayata + Michan Architecture made the decision to reduce the footprint of the building and the side walls of the lot, leaving room for windows on all four sides. In addition, with the distance of the building with respect to the adjoining areas, a level could be added, as a variation to the code and, therefore, maximizing the square meters and the number of apartments.
This slightly reduced footprint allowed for the use of recessed or perforated windows, which became the building’s signature: 22 rectangular openings in five different sizes rotate in the façade, resulting in a mosaic of ruled, inverted trapezoids on all sides. From the inside, these windows create a variety of views and perspectives as the changing facade is combined with standardized unit layouts.
This opening strategy determined the building’s main construction material: cast-in-situ concrete, which produces a ruled and fluted effect. The textured, dark gray exterior is contrasted by a brighter, softer interior palette, where polished limestone and wood floors meet white-painted walls, white fixtures, and flooding sunlight. Wavy openings create a flowing, floating bridge between the two extremes.
The project description is provided by the architects.
About the Architects
Young & Ayata formed a partnership in New York in 2008 to explore the conceptual and aesthetic possibilities of architecture and urbanism. The practice is dedicated to both built commissions and experimental research. The practice views the reality of contemporary building as a provocation for architectural form, material, and technology. In following these trajectories, understanding architecture in its historical processes is necessary. Both principals teach and view the educational experience as crucial to the continual development of architectural ideas. Michael Young is an Associate Professor at The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at the Cooper Union. Kutan Ayata is an Associate Professor and the Vice Chair of the Department of Architecture and Urbanism at UCLA.
Michan Architecture is a studio based in Mexico City founded in 2010. The practice operates as a laboratory of architecture, exploring new possibilities within the discipline. They see architecture as a flirtation towards the built environment; a question towards the norm, a speculation of what the future can be. They pursue architecture as a material practice, hybridizing local craft with digital and analog thinking. The work is a reaction to existing conditions, it strives to find a fine balance for the familiar, yet at precisely completely weird. For them, this midpoint is where the work is able to speak with the past without copying the recipes while looking forward to new ways to misbehave mater and tectonics. Isaac Michan Daniel leads the practice.
