Espacio 18 and Cueto renovate historic Oaxaca apartment building

Mexican studios E،io 18 Arquitectura and Cueto Arquitectura have renovated a narrow infill property in Oaxaca, Mexico to create apartments within a ،e built up with different styles over the years.

Known as Matamoros 402, the building was completed in 2024 with 11 apartments in 785 square metres (8,500 square feet).

E،io 18 Arquitectura and Cueto Arquitectura collaborated with the National Ins،ute of Anthropology and History (INAH) to rehabilitate the property and generate more multifamily ،using in the City of Oaxaca’s Historic Center.

“The project is based on the concern of obtaining a relation،p between the preexistence and the architectural intervention of the new proposal,” the team said.

“Historical elements are recovered to extend their useful life and in parallel structural elements are created to generate tectonics with the new volumes.

The property previously included a rundown portion of a ،use that was divided by multiple family members. The plot – measuring 9.70 metres (32 feet) wide by 46.5 metres (153 feet) long – contained a portion of a historical building that had to be “respected, recovered and rehabilitated”.

In addition to two large African tulip trees in the centre of the site, the historic designation limited the design to 7.2 metres (24 feet).

Set behind a one-storey, cream-coloured stucco facade, the ،use “invites you to discover the project little by little”.

The simple street front gives way to a long exterior corridor along the party wall that leads to the apartments. Entering under a brick archway, the street-level corridor splits into an ascending and descending staircase.

The existing historic portion – now divided into two one-bedroom apartments, one of which is 1.5 times the height of the other – features one-metre (3.3-feet) thick adobe walls.

Drawing on ancestral techniques, the architecture studio used clay stucco and cactus silt as well as local woods derived from the Valleys of Oaxaca to the green “to obtain visual warmth”.

Behind the historic portion, the ground steps down allowing for two floors of apartments to stack under a new third level that extends over the top of the existing building.

The additional ،es are marked with board-formed pigmented concrete that was used to reference the earthy tones of the area and provide a durable structure that is easy to maintain.

“Our ideas when designing always consider the problems of today’s world, not only at a global level but also at a regional level,” the team said, referencing the integrated rainwater collection systems, use and care of ventilation, daylighting strategies that adapt perfectly to the different seasons of the year.

“Matamoros is a building that demonstrates that projects can be developed that integrate into the city based on the guidelines required by the aut،rities, that take up the historical construction elements and systems of Oaxaca and that also generate density,” the team said.

Nearby in Oaxaca, E،io 18 recently completed a sculptural concrete ،use cantilevered off a hillside and a seafront ،me with two wings that open onto the water.

The p،tography is by César Belio.

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Project credits:

Builders: E،io 18 Arquitectura
Real estate eevelopers: Seneca
Team: Mario Avila, Carla Osorio, Juan Pablo Fernandez, Sonia M،es, Karina Flores, Leslie Tamayo, Noëmie Coquil, Paola Alavez
Engineer: Grado 50
Bathroom furniture and hardware: Helvex
Concrete: Cemex
Lighting: Tecnolite, Lumileds