Laguna / Productora

La Laguna is a former textile and yarn factory built in the 1920s in Mexico City’s Doctores neighborhood. The design involves the deteriorated factory’s recovery and enhancement into the vibrant complex that currently houses more than 25 motley creative and productive firms including carpentry and textile workshops, coffee brewers, and ceramics studios, among others.

Although the historic building is not cataloged, the intervention project proposes to preserve the original exterior facades and focus on the interior courtyards that had accumulated a large amount of equipment, roofs, and annexes over time, losing its function as a spatial connector between the different areas of the complex. The reconversion strategy was designed to be implemented gradually, over the course of several years (more than ten years), and with a flexible group of tenants using the complex simultaneously.

The renovated complex is organized around two rehabilitated courtyards of different sizes and characteristics, giving continuity to the old facades with their robust concrete structure and unique square ironwork grid. This fundamental strategy is complemented by specific architectural interventions to improve the operation and distribution of the horizontal and vertical circulations, generating a promenade that motivates visitors to discover the entire complex.

It incorporates new restroom areas, new stairwells, a new freight elevator, and constructing several additional buildings and warehouses to complement the complex. Finally, we decided to reuse the green color present in the architectural elements of the old building and in the old weaving machines to define a new chromatic identity for Laguna.

• Architectural Design: PRODUCTORA (Carlos Bedoya, Víctor Jaime, Wonne Ickx, Abel Perles)
• Collaborators: Claudio Morales, Diana Jiménez, Nicolás Fueyo, Ruy Berumen, Rubén Flores, Carla Romano, Diego Velázquez, Fidel Fernandez, Pablo Manjarrez
• Location: Colonia Doctores, Mexico City
• Typology: Adaptative Reuse
• Area: 75,886 sqft
• Developer: MARQCRET
• Structural Design: Colinas De Buen
• Structural Engineering: T2M
• Photography: Arturo Arrieta, Camila Cossio