XOMA is located in Mexico City’s culturally vibrant Roma Norte neighborhood, where layers of history provide a scaffold for contemporary urban life amidst daily celebrations of art, music, and cuisine. The project’s design, from its novel masonry façade to light fixtures made of local volcanic stone, fosters an authentic guest experience centered on Mexican craft.

The building integrates with the neighborhood by being both innovative and familiar. The distinctive façade echoes the materials and textures of the local architecture and provides a complementary scale at the ground level through a sculptural “lifting” of the façade to mark points of entry and horizontal datums on adjacent historical buildings. The floor plan is organized around a central open-air atrium embracing the temperate climate. A demonstration kitchen for teaching about local cuisine, a rooftop terrace with city views, and convenient access to nearby green spaces further enhance the guest experience of the neighborhood.

The utilization of local materials and manufacturing techniques yielded numerous benefits beyond architecture alone. Relying on relatively simple manufacturing and installation methods provided significant cost savings over using more sophisticated manufacturing tools and processes. This allowed the employment of numerous people within the community during the first year of the global pandemic when many job sites were shut down.

The owner and architect, along with their respective teams of people in the U.S. and Mexico, have developed an enduring and collaborative relationship that strives to create architecture born from multicultural influence. XOMA embodies this pursuit.