- Area: 70 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Dane Alonso
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Lead Architect: Daniela Bucio Sistos
Text description provided by the architects. Mezcalería Maguey is an intervention placed inside a commercial plaza. The first approach was to achieve an effect of dissociation for the user and to create an environment that is completely different from that of a commercial establishment.
The respect for the mezcal and its artisanal elaboration was handed down by our clients, a family that is dedicated to mezcal and is headed by a master mezcal maker. The task was always to make a space worthy of this distillate.
Knowing about the elaboration of mezcal, the formal and interior proposal is rooted in the feeling of being under the ground or buried, as they do with certain types of mezcals. This space has earthy tones that were achieved with polished cement and partition walls. The site was a rectangular place, with flat roofs, exposed metal structures, and an entrance located in a corner of the polygon.
We wanted to change the guiding axes of the site both horizontally and vertically, proposing a cross vault within the space and sectioning the place to have different areas and environments. The access and façade is a gate with two sliding doors in the center already arranged by the commercial plaza.
From the aisles of the plaza, one can barely perceive the warm light of the mezcalería. When entering the place, a vault of apparent partition wall surrounds the central space revealing the bar. With the counter bar, we wanted to create a plane with cavities that look like a hand-worked surface that reminds us of the process of digging up mezcal. Behind this counter bar hides the kitchen.
Creating this new layout, the vault diagonally crosses the premises and two smaller-scale, more intimate spaces are generated on either side of this central body. These secondary spaces house the selection of regional mezcals. The intention of this project is to pursue an atmosphere of shadows.
