Located at Miguel E. Schultz 139 in the historic Colonia San Rafael neighborhood of Mexico City, 139 Schultz is a residential project that engages with one of the city’s most culturally layered urban environments. San Rafael remains known for its 19th-century architecture and its bohemian character, where traditional residential life coexists with cultural institutions, corporate buildings, and entertainment venues.
The project is located one block from Avenida James Sullivan, a corridor associated with several important works of modern Mexican architecture, including projects by architects such as Mario Pani, Luis Barragán, and Félix Candela.
139 Schultz responds to the demands of contemporary urban living while maintaining a strong relationship with the scale and character of the neighborhood. The six-level building contains twenty-one residential units of varying typologies, ranging from approximately 60 to 120 square meters. A commercial ground floor and a semi-basement parking level provide services while maintaining an active relationship with the street.
The architectural organization is structured around a central courtyard that is set back from the southern boundary of the site. This strategy increases the interior façade surface, allowing abundant natural light and cross ventilation for the apartments. Three additional interior patios of varying sizes further articulate the plan, separating social and private areas within the building.
Each floor contains five apartments—three facing the street and two oriented toward the central courtyard. The building volume bends in an L-shaped configuration around the patio, generating corridors, balconies, and terraces that function as intermediate spaces between the public city and the private life of the residences. These shared areas encourage interaction among residents while maintaining privacy within the apartments.
The street façade is defined by a sculptural double-skin composition of red concrete and exposed red brick, forming a monolithic surface that protects the interior from direct sunlight and street noise while providing privacy for the dwellings. In contrast, the interior façades facing the courtyard adopt a lighter architectural expression composed of red enameled brick and floor-to-ceiling aluminum windows.
Inside the apartments, the design emphasizes natural and durable materials, including exposed red concrete, brick, quarry stone, and wood. The spatial organization divides each unit into two primary zones: a living area oriented toward the east and a sleeping area to the west, with kitchens and bathrooms grouped along the service spine.
Large balconies extend the living-dining areas toward the exterior, a spatial effect reinforced by floor-to-ceiling windows that blur the boundary between interior and exterior space. Throughout the building, circulation spaces lead to small moments of intimacy—windows framing planted courtyards and quiet corners that offer visual connections to greenery within the dense urban block.
The structure, cast in situ with exposed red concrete, gives the building a strong and tactile material presence. Lightweight glazed surfaces contrast with the mass of the concrete volumes, creating a balance between solidity and transparency that defines the architectural identity of the project.
