Ozuluama Contemporary Residence Architecture in Mexico City by Architects Collective & At103

In the heart of Mexico City, the Condesa district created around what was once a raceway and nowadays an unequalled and vivacious region of the city. At the end one of the Condesa's tree-lined streets is the contemporary residence project, a penthouse with two terraces and a lookout on top of an existing 3-story building.

The new construction looks like a mobile structure drifting above the varioud urban contour of Mexico City. The proprietors live the penthouse 6 month of the year and the rest of the time it is used by friends, visitors and artists that stay in the city. The construction was designed to ponder the motions of its ephemeral inhabitants in an origami-like morphology.

The folding active form creates a seemingly temporary habitat with continuous inside and outside spaces on two levels and generous views of the city. The building's structure is made of steel and is completely enclosed in pearl-grey acrylic-polymer Corian panels.

Overhangs and the attentive orientation of inner spaces and openings control the mood of the penthouse, which can also be adjusted by providing cross ventilation through usable windows in the glass façade and at the highest point of the roof structure.

The floors covering the entire penthouse- from the moment you enter, to the moment you step into the bathtub- are of Santo Tomas marble, a local stone usually employed as flooring in the city's subway stations, churches and other public spaces. Thus the echoes of the outside are folded in quietly into a private space, further re-enforcing the notion of a transient, temporal habitat.

Architects: Architects Collective & at103
Client: Yoshua Okon
Collaborators: Kurt Sattler, Julio Amezcua, Francisco Pardo
Structural Consultant: Colinas de Buen
Contractor: Factor Eficiencia
Site Area: 150 sqm
Construction Area: 120 sqm
Budget: US $250.000