Architect Francisco Pardo has breathed new life into a dilapidated nineteenth century home by converting the building into a vibrant mixed-use revenue for the neighborhood. Located in Mexico City’s famed Paseo de la Reforma, Havre 77 is part of a urban revitalization initiative for Colonia Juárez, a formerly exclusive suburb that fell into near ruin after a revolutionary war and two earthquakes that hit the area in 1957 and 1985.
The adaptive reuse project aims to create a vibrant meeting center for the surrounding community, offering office and co-working space as well as two restaurants. To bring the lot back to its glory days, the architect created Havre 77 using a “synergic system” to open the structure to the street and create a welcoming interstitial plaza. The result is welcoming, well-lit space that intrinsically connects the building with the neighborhood.
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To retain some of the building’s old character while updating the structure, the renovation strategy focused on creating a “prosthesis of a human body”. A two-story steel and concrete skeleton was placed on top of the former brick building, and an additional branch was added to the back. This strategy let the architect naturally integrate the new building with the old structure, essentially creating two distinct sides of the same coin.
Pardo explains that his vision of the project was primarily focused on the needs of the urban community, “This is not just a restoration, it’s an intervention. Our project aims to change the DNA of a neighborhood to respond to current social needs.”
Photography by Diana Arnau
