Why hit the cervecería when you can enjoy your own beer at home? In the Mexico City neighbourhood of Navarte, Omar Vergara Taller (OVT) has crafted an expansion to an apartment for two lager brewers – Alma and Alejandro – and their young family that feels as hip as any hotspot in the city. In fact, Terraza Alba, as it’s called, is resplendent, an energetically creative renovation that levels up small-space living.
The 27-metre-square, L-shaped space, which the owners purchased on the top floor of a mid-rise building, steps up from their main unit just below via an elegantly minimal staircase. It’s divided among four main zones: an office with a view of the city, a living space that can be curtained off for privacy, the beer lab and the al-fresco terrace it leads out to. “This progression is a shared choreography between interior and exterior, between activity and pause,” say the architects.
Although the apartment is in a busy epicentre, it hews to the sensibilities of Alma, who is originally from Oaxaca. There, the architects explain, “craftsmanship and tradition are woven into the everyday, with rich clay tiles and vibrant looms.” A space where “dynamics and rituals converge,” the bar also speaks to this deeper connection. Its centrepiece island was “shaped by the ideas of hospitality within the home,” in order to evoke conviviality.
Glossy artisanal ceramic tile in a forest-y tone wraps the fluid contours of the island, which is sculpted with niches to accommodate bar stools. Green also provides an accent hue throughout: The architects have clad the exterior in a patinated green metal to accentuate its rarified presence and all the metal joists and hardware, including door and window frames, are in a tone that matches it –and the cacti sprouting in the outdoor plantings.
Otherwise the interiors are muted and mainly comprised of clay tile floors, stucco walls and exposed wooden beams – a “material language of identity, lightness and familiarity,” according to the firm.
All of this is in service of making the beer lab the star of the project. “Above all, the beer lab was conceived not only as a functional workshop but also as a place of gathering, where the process of making beer and the bar itself become central to the house’s social life,” the architects say. “The brewing experience, along with the desire to embrace a different way of living by creating an unconventional space with a strong identity, further shaped the organization of the terrace, reinforcing its role as both practical and celebratory.”
Programmatically, the beer lab hinges the zones together. As the space continues almost seamlessly onto the terrace, its blocky, earth-pigmented concrete cabinetry indoors echoed in a wraparound bench that provides an enveloping perch outdoors, it provides an utterly unique hospitality nook – a relaxing getaway within the confines of the cozy apartment.
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