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Architect Paolo Sarra and studio Punto Arquitectónico have transformed a historic residence in southern Mexico into a bed and breakfast filled with regional materials such as chukum and palm. More
A relief ceiling depicting a labyrinth of ancient ruins extends above the diners in this restaurant in Guadalajara, Mexico, which has been designed by local studio Monteon Arquitectos Asociados. More
Mexican studio Escobedo Soliz has renovated a family’s residence inside a 1940s housing complex that was modelled on Le Corbusier’s Radiant City masterplan. More
Álvaro Hernández Félix Studio has given these offices for a financial services firm a “very mid-sixties modern Mexican style”, using curved window corners, marble furniture and gold surfaces. More
Villas and treehouse suites peek out from the jungle-enveloped cliffs of this hotel on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, allowing guests to soak in the views from private plunge pools. More
Artist Mario García Torres has curated a new exhibition of ambiguous objects by designers including Hector Esrawe in a house in Mexico City. More
Mexican design firm Simon Hamui has created bespoke furnishings for a moody and minimalist Mexico City home by Spanish practice Francesc Rifé Studio, using a tactile palette of eucalyptus wood, glass, quartzite, marble and brass.AdH House, which was completed last year, is a two-storey home in the residential neighbourhood of Lomas de Chapultepec and features a dark grey facade and black aluminium shutters across its two monolithic volumes.
Top: a marble and glass coffee table centres the living room. Above: Simon Hamui created a series of built-in shelves for the home
Simon Hamui was commissioned by the owners to create a number of custom furniture pieces that would complement and complete the work of Francesc Rife Studio, which saw the interior finished with cream coloured walls, natural stone and wood surfaces.
“After working together in the past, [the clients] called on us to design and execute some of the key pieces of millwork and furniture throughout this house, as well as to help them curate and integrate their art collection with the millwork and interior,” explained Simon Hamui who founded his eponymous studio in 1991.
“The house, which is a masterpiece of contemporary architecture by Francesc Rife, has very clean and minimalistic lines and we needed to strike a fine balance by complementing his architecture and integrating furnishings that amplified the owner’s lifestyle and personal partiality.”
A quartzite lamp helps to prop up the glass tabletop
In the living room, the firm created a custom coffee table and matching bench made from honed, grand antique marble and starphire glass — a brand of low-iron, high-clarity glass. It features sculptural solid brass legs and an integrated quartzite lamp, which also serves as a support for the tabletop.
“To add an element of symmetry, we used the same quartzite featured on the coffee table for the adjacent bar mirrors and the aged brass on the bar’s base,” added Hamui.
A slatted divider created privacy in the dining room
A slatted screen divider in the dining room serves as an architectural element that divides the main hallway and living room from the dining room. Its aged brass frame encompasses smoked glass and thin wood slats that provide privacy in the dining room while still allowing light to filter through.
On the dining room side, an aged eucalyptus wood console with a grey quartzite countertop and brass detailing is integrated into the room divider.
Display cases in the wine cellar are lit by LED strips
These same materials are mirrored in the dining table with its stone top and removable extensions made of smoked eucalyptus, that help to accommodate larger parties when needed.
Sitting at either end of the table, the extensions can also be used as consoles for displaying decorative objects.
A marble table in the cellar can be used for entertaining
In the house’s glass-walled, temperature-controlled wine cellar, Hamui has installed rectangular wine display cases made from starphire glass. Bottles are stored on inset satin aluminium racks and lit by integrated LED lights.
“These are designed to display the bottles in the purest way possible,” said Hamui. “The intentional positioning of the bottles creates a rhythmic and ornamental tapestry-like display that decorates the exterior space and draws people in.”
The cellar also houses a Grigio Carnico marble table that can be used for hosting small gatherings.
The wood-clad office was conceived in the wake of the pandemic
The study was not part of the house’s original design but added by the clients after moving in as a direct response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Hamui conceived its interior as a functional wooden box, with ceiling and walls clad in eucalyptus and enhanced with micro-perforations and sound insulation to allow for greater privacy.
The built-in shelves are by Simon Hamui and the chandelier by Jaime Tresserra
Hamui also added a floor-to-ceiling bookcase lined with suede leather and brass details while an angular, stainless steel chandelier by Barcelona designer Jaime Tresserra hangs above the desk.
In the family room, a large figured eucalyptus bookcase with brass bookstands and LED lighting is built into the wall behind the sofa, housing a textured Jason Martin painting as well as antique atlases. On the other side of the room, a millwork unit houses a TV and desk.
A eucalyptus bookcase in the living room houses antique atlases
Hamui’s Mexico City workshop specialises in the design and manufacture of furniture as well as comprehensive interior design projects for private residences, hotels, restaurants, yachts and art galleries.
Last year, the studio also completed the millwork for a house with huge “beak-like” windows in New York’s Dutchess County, designed by US studio GRT Architects.
Photography is by Victor Stonem.
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Architecture studio Ambrosi Etchegaray drew upon the pared-back design ethos of the Shakers to create the minimal rooms within this hotel in Mexico City.The Círculo Mexicano hotel is located downtown of Mexico City, taking over a 19th-century building that previously accommodated private residences.
The hotel occupies a 19th-century building
Ambrosi Etchegaray, which is led by architects Jorge Ambrosi and Gabriela Etchegaray, undertook the task of transforming it into a more hospitable space.
The studio has left behind some time-worn elements that hint at how long the building has been around – for example, the dramatic zigzag staircase that links together all the levels of the hotel backs onto a wall of crumbling bricks.
A zigzag staircase links together the hotel’s different floors
However in the 25 bedrooms, which are spread across the building’s second and third floors, the studio has taken a much more contemporary, minimal approach.
Ryo Kan hotel blends Mexican materials and Japanese traditions
A key point of reference was the style of the Shakers: a Christian sect founded in 1747 that has become known for their ascetic lifestyles and equally austere approach to designing their living quarters and furniture, which were completely devoid of ornamentation.
“Originally all the design process was inspired by an ecclesiastical aesthetics,” Ambrosi told Dezeen. “With that premise, we imagined an architecture free of ornament, where the correct use of simple materials enhances the quality of the space.”
Rooms in the hotel have simple Shaker-inspired interiors
“When we saw the first room partially finished, we decide to invite different designers to work on the essential elements for the space, lighting, desk, chair, etc,” Ambrosi continued.
“We had some initial talks with studio La Metropolitana to design a chair for the room and they came back with a proposal to create a group of utilitarian elements that will become part of the room,” he added.
“Their proposal was inspired in the Shakers – they understand the value of that movement as a community that developed a refined technique working with wood.”
Some of the rooms boast barrel-vaulted ceilings
Círculo Mexicano’s rooms are therefore host to just a few blocky plinths, which form side tables or support wooden storage cupboards. The largest plinth is used as a base for the rooms’ beds, which are covered with plain, beige-coloured linens with exposed seams.
Surrounding surfaces are mostly painted white, but some rooms boast barrel-vaulted ceilings clad in red tiles.
Beds are covered in beige-coloured linens
Decor is provided by Shaker-style peg rails, where members of the sect would typically hang clothes, hats and light pieces of furniture when not in use. In the hotel rooms, these are used to suspend mirrors, trinket boxes and wooden chairs created by La Metropolitana.
Some rooms will also include prints by revered Mexican photographer Manuel Álvarez Bravo, who was born in the hotel building back in 1902.
Shaker-style peg rails provide decoration
Most of the communal spaces are situated on the hotel’s rooftop, where there is a pool and a pop-up restaurant called ONA Le Toit that serves Mexican food with a French twist. The menu will change week to week as the chef’s take on different regional dishes.
Guests can sit around the jet-black dining tables or on the more relaxed woven-back sofa seats while taking in views of notable Mexico City attractions such as the Metropolitan Cathedral and Templo Mayor.
The hotel includes a rooftop restaurant and pool
While beachy parts of Mexico like Tulum and Cancun have become holiday hotspots, many also flock to the capital for its rich culinary scene, architecture and annual design week.
Other spots to stay in Mexico City include boutique hotel Ryo Kan, which takes aesthetic cues from Japanese culture, and Hotel Carlota, which features a lush central courtyard.
Photography is by Sergio López courtesy of Grupo Habita.
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