Rather than demolishing and rebuilding from scratch, Casa Hugo takes a strategic approach, extending the lifespan of a 1950s building and adapting it to modern living. Through structural, functional, and urban interventions, the project shows how architecture can effectively regenerate the immediate context and create local value.
Located in the Anzures neighborhood, the original structure featured ground-floor columns and load-bearing walls from the first to third floors. One of the main challenges was preserving this configuration while removing all non-load-bearing walls and elements to redistribute the spaces. A new central column was designed to redistribute the loads and ensure at least 50 additional years of use. This decision made it possible to preserve the building and rethink its connection with the city by adding a ground-floor café and reimagining the rooftop as a shared common area.
Designed as a short-term rental housing project, Casa Hugo responds to contemporary needs. The six units are spacious, naturally lit, and well-ventilated apartments. A notable design feature is the repurposed original staircase, where each steel piece was dismantled, rotated, and reinstalled in reverse to optimize lobbies and access to the units.
The café on the ground floor has become the social hub of the project, serving as a meeting place for guests, neighbors, and passersby. One of the primary goals was to integrate the building into the fabric of local life, and the café serves as a vital connector.
The project’s materiality follows a logic of durability, low environmental impact, and visual warmth. Locally sourced, accessible materials, such as Puebla travertine, were combined with light oak carpentry and textured walls that diffuse indirect light. Vegetation introduced across multiple levels of the building is an active part of the material palette.
In Casa Hugo, sustainability goes beyond energy efficiency and material selection. Its main contribution is extending the life cycle of an existing structure, avoiding the environmental costs of demolition, and rethinking how we inhabit our cities. Compared to a conventional new building of the same size, Casa Hugo significantly reduces its carbon footprint while creating urban value, fostering social cohesion, and establishing a new hub of activity within the neighborhood.
This project is a tangible expression of how architecture can link the past and the present, structural permanence and social transformation. Most importantly, it demonstrates that the future of our cities does not depend solely on new construction, but also on new perspectives on what already exists.
