Over the last decade, Design Week Mexico has become the leading festival to promote and celebrate the work of Mexican designers, architects and artists, with several events to showcase their creativity, such as Design House. For the 2017 edition, our studio was invited to transform one of the rooms from a mid-century residence in Mexico City, along with other 14 local practices, each one with a guested artist as user/speaker, with the aim to create a temporary installation based on its personality.
Our assigned space was the up-stairs lounge of the house, a tiny room that communicates the upper-floor with the terrace, featuring framed views towards the green landscape of Lincoln Park, in Polanco neighborhood. Based on this, we collaborated with the Mexican flutist Horacio Franco (our speaker guest), to create a pavilion inspired by its music.
The project is defined by a wooden structure composed by mobile timber panels, which reminds of sound waves and musical instruments. The changing positioning of each panel allows the visitors to play and create different configurations and scenes, generating optical effects and controlling the light and views to the surrounding vegetation, merging the exterior environment into the room.
From the room’s outside, the user is received by three arches with ornately patterned iron framings, that emphasizes the structure’s shape. Inside, materials and decoration were kept minimal but elegance, in order to integrate the artist’s essence and philosophy in out proposal. The wooden palette contrasts with the black-marble floor, creating a reflection effect, while a balance is achieved by integrating decorative elements, such as brass pending lamps by David Pompa, and a sculptural steel totem designed by the studio.
Beyond an isolated space, the project is understood as a musical pavilion that generates different sensations through the use of natural materials and the play of light and reflections, allowing a serene atmosphere for the musical meditation and contemplation. Our main objective was to promote the visitor’s interaction, where thanks to the repetition and movement of elements, the installation evolved as the event goes by.
2017
2017
Project name: Upper Floor Lounge for Design House
Location: Ciudad de México, México.
Completion year: octubre 2017
Office: Ricardo Yslas Gámez Arquitectos
Lead architect: Ricardo Yslas.
Design team: Adriana Suárez, Alicia Segui, José Antonio Merlos, Eric Castro Valenzuela, Henry Ernesto López Monroy
Photography: Jaime Navarro Soto