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campeche 239

MEXICO CITY

2017-2019

In the heart of urban Mexico City, this 100-year-old house is restructured and turned into 6 apartments, complemented by the addition of two extra stories containing 3 completely new and contemporary apartments, turning the old building into a 9-apartment complex.

Campeche 239 is an investigation aiming to revitalize the life of a building that would otherwise be discarded, and use its inherent aesthetics and space quality to demonstrate that there are still valuable qualities in aged buildings. The project faces the street maintaining a completely unaltered façade, where the only intervention was polishing the terrazzo footing, cleaning up the stone marquees, and scrapping to re-paint the brick wall, the two new stories hide from pedestrians by recessing from the street enough distance for them to be covered. On the other hand, the original patio on the side of the house is used as the distribution alleyway to all apartments, heading to a new steel staircase located on the footprint of the former water deposit.

Materials have a primary roll for the project, they do both, bond the two architectural aesthetics together, while enhancing the unique characteristics of each architectural epoque. On the first hand, the terrazzo flooring and the synthetic wood are used all around the project, both material expressions were/are widely used regardless of the building age. On a second hand, the structural elements characterizing each epoch are exalted through the entire project; the use of bricks on the old building is enhanced by exposing the brick walls inside the apartments, and complemented by also exposing the old concrete slabs. Contrasting, on the other hand, with the use of exposed steel elements for the expansion, both in columns and beams, complemented with big glass facades towards the exterior.

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