QO Apartments, The mixed-use building spans from one end to the other of a block in Mexico City. The project is configured as a concise response to its urban circumstances. Its narrow and elongated design, as well as the solution of the facade, can be traced as a response to each building and void adjacent to the site.
© Andrés Cedillo
A formal language of extended planes and volumes is repeated at different scales and experiences while inhabiting the building. The displacements that vary on each level create terraces and different solar incidence towards each interior space. Light is projected into the habitable spaces through tall and wide glass modules that allow for unobstructed views of the Chapultepec Forest and the city.
© Andrés Cedillo
In its 9 longitudinally organized levels, only 10 meters wide, QO contemplates a commercial space, residential lofts, suites, and offices. In the interior, the structural elements are left exposed as they are naturally, and the additions, coverings, and finishes are limited to the minimum possible.
© Marcelo Rodríguez
The building appears slender to the passerby while revealing blind materiality from the side facades, where we experiment with exposed cast-in-place concrete in different shades, textures, and formats. The configuration of its floor plan represented a design challenge in the solution of circulations, accesses, and flows. Viewed from above, the building integrates with the rooftops, stairs, and nearby facades. It adds to and becomes part of the diverse urban atmosphere of Mexico City.
Project Info
Architects: Archetonic
Country: Mexico, Ciudad de México
Area: 8731 m²
Year: 2023
Photographs: Andrés Cedillo, Marcelo Rodríguez, Arturo Arrieta
Design Team: Jessica Steiner Durán, Alfredo Muñoz Jiménez, Ernesto Rossell Zanotelli, Alejandro Rabiela Salinas
Structural Engineer: Montes de Oca, Ingenieros consultores
Installations: INRASA
Isabelle Laurent is a Built Projects Editor at Arch2O, recognized for her editorial insight and passion for contemporary architecture. She holds a Master’s in Architectural Theory from École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris-Belleville. Before joining Arch2O in 2016, she worked in a Paris-based architectural office and taught as a faculty adjunct at the École Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris. Isabelle focuses on curating projects around sustainability, adaptive reuse, and urban resilience. With a background in design and communication, she brings clarity to complex ideas and plays a key role in shaping Arch2O’s editorial