The V20 project is a restoration, renovation, and extension of an old neo-colonial-style house built in 1905, Located in the heart of Mexico City. It aims to integrate the building’s architectural evolution, incorporating both the old and the modern. It is inspired by a poetic fragment of Octavio Paz, who is himself believed to have been born in the house: “An edifice made of time: what was, what will be, what is.”
The Patio pays tribute to the universal legacy of modernity through its catenary arches; while the organic minimalism of interior design re-inhabit a ruin through new ways of living and a poetic atmosphere of isolation.
Description:
The project is a restoration, renovation, and extension of an old neo-colonial-style house built in 1905, Located in the heart of Mexico City. It aims to integrate three different architectural eras; the Porfiriato, Mexican modernism, and the contemporary, and is inspired by a fragment of a poem by the renowned Mexican writer, Octavio Paz, who is himself believed to have been born in the building: “An edifice made of time: what was, what will be, what is.”
Through the recovery of this urban structure, formerly abandoned over two decades, both past and present can be perceived within its interiors. In this way, restoring the ruin leads to the creation of new life. These introspective spaces also provide new interpretations of ‘family’; embodied by future generations of young people who will come to variously experience the building as an art studio, office, and bedroom, through isolation, a connection between light and silence.
The interior emerges from an organic minimalism that manifests through bright and pure spaces. Its design intends to generate calm and contemplation. The main patio pays tribute to the architecture of the neighborhood and its historical evolution, from the end of the 19th century through to 20th-century modernity and up to the contemporary present. The catenary arches begin with a stereotomic structure before transforming into light and tectonic forms, honoring the universal legacy of Gaudi. The project is in an area dedicated to the city’s vibrant youth and seeks to create different living ways for new generations.
This project is designed to house young artists, writers, and tourists in six loft-style housing units oriented as flexible spaces with a view of the urban context. Each unit is unique; reinterpreting the past in the present via an aesthetic atmosphere that is almost poetic.
