An Apartment-Style Hotel by Belzberg Architects Sails into Mexico City

2022 Best of Year Winner for Boutique Hotel

Mexico City’s Roma Norte neighborhood possesses an eclectic mix of early-1900’s buildings in styles ranging from neoclassical to art nouveau. Now a decidedly modernist structure has sailed onto the scene: Xoma, an apartment-style hotel by Belzberg Architects that calls to mind a ship with the wind at its back, thanks to perforated screens that appear to billow from the seven-story structure. The property is the latest in a series of buildings with sculptural facade treatments that the Los Angeles firm founded by Interior Design Hall of Fame member Hagy Belzberg has designed in CDMX. Elsewhere, he and his team conjured up facades in aluminum strips or perforated carbon steel.

For Xoma, a collaboration with developer Grupo Anima, they turned to more traditional masonry. Concrete blocks, handcrafted with central openings, were fabricated on-site and connected by integrated C-shape steel plates. The permeable membranes, tapered at the street level, expand as they rise.

Sweeping forms appear on the interior, too. In the lobby, asymmetrical plaster ceilings arch over a brass-plated reception desk and floors of veined Tunisian marble. Arrayed around a central atrium, the 14 guest suites—one- and two-bedrooms with full kitchens—lead onto balconies partially enclosed by the facade screen, which provides privacy while allowing fresh air to circulate and natural light to filter in.

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belzberg architects: hagy belzberg; brock desmit; jennifer wu; jessica hong; josh hanley; david cheung; adrian cortez; mingyue hu; kris leese; aaron leshtz; corie saxman; filipa lima valente; katelyn miersma; melissa yip