Michan Architecture’s proposal for the C294 Apartments challenges conventional notions of conservation; the new building does not seek to preserve the original appearance, but rather to repurpose what lies hidden. The motifs are reinterpreted through an interplay of straight lines and tangential curves to introduce internal walls, balconies, parapets and planters.
The project makes use of the original in-situ concrete slabs with inverted beams to connect the intervention with the existing structure. The boundaries between the old and the new are blurred through the use of striped timber formwork, which, together with the living plant cladding, brings a sense of biophilia to the building.
C294 Apartments by Michan Architecture. Photograph by Artuto Arrieta.
Project description by Michan Architecture
Initiated in 2021 and built in 2024, C294 Apartments is a residential adaptive reuse project located in Condesa, CDMX. The project consists of 5 apartments: one per floor and a lobby with a parking garage on the ground floor. There are 2-bedroom apartments on floors one through four, and a 1-bedroom penthouse on the top floor with a setback and terrace offering 360-degree views.
It is an intervention of an existing damaged structure of reinforced concrete column and slab building from 1953. As both design and executive architect, Michan Architecture together with the local structural engineer (CTC Ingenieros Civiles) repair the original structure and unified it with a new contemporary design by reconfiguring the interior and apartment layouts to accommodate current needs.
C294 Apartments’ silhouette and balconies take inspiration from the well-maintained Art Deco buildings common to Condesa, a popular and happening area known for creativity. Michan Architecture reinterpreted the beautiful motifs as a play of straight lines and tangential curves to add internal walls, balconies, parapets, and planters.
Hidden under stucco at the start of the project, the design utilizes the original cast-in-situ concrete slabs with inverted beams to connect new and preexisting. The new additions to reinvent the building use wood striped formwork to blur the boundaries between old and new, creating areas for a landscape that gives the building more biophilia while dressing the building in green living plants.
“The project questions notions of preservation as the new building does not try to preserve the original appearance but rather reuse something that was hidden: the concrete slabs once covered in stucco with an addition that matches and creates a new dialogue for adapting and transforming structures of value in Mexico City and beyond.”
Michan Architecture.
