Accommodating Design: The Ignacia Guest House in Mexico City

Project Name

Ignacia Guest House

Posted in

Design Studio

Detailed Information
Project Name	Ignacia Guest House	Posted in	Hotels, Design, Interior Design	Design Studio	A - G interiorismo

The sharing economy has reshaped many aspects of the everyday experience with one of the most established examples being that of accommodation, with different options having been made available to challenge traditional hotels. Though the latter are safe in their offerings of a very distinct character, many have enjoyed the benefits that came with the disruption, not only in financial terms, which are now often minimal, but also in the quality of experience offered. The major question has inevitably been, as always, how to make one feel most at home. The success of the new style of accommodation booking has made the resounding answer to be that, obviously, one feels at home where it looks like home, a factor that appears to be very much the case when it comes to the Ignacia Guest House in Mexico City’s Colonia Roma neighbourhood.

Completed in 2017, and winning the Best Interiors of Latin America and the Caribbean competition in the same year, the Ignacia Guest House features no more than five suites, which feel more like part of a household, than anything else. The product of a collaboration between architecture firm Factor Eficiencia and Andrés Gutiérrez’s interior design firm A-G, the property has preserved not only the original floor plan of the 1913 historical mansion, but also its essence as a refuge for people sharing a connecting bond. While that bond may have changed from family relations to wanderlust or simply business obligations in a place away from home, it still demands to be acknowledged and honoured as no lesser a connection.

Indeed, connections are an important part of the design. In the 480 m2 of the original structure now stand the entrance hall, reception, library, dining room and kitchen of the establishment, which has seen the building’s window frames, doors and floors being rescued in the redesign. While these rooms have called for the repurposing of most spaces, the master suite, named the Black Guest Room, connects the establishment to the mansion’s glory as a luxurious residence. A stunningly simple corridor with mainly glass walls connects the old structure to the 200 m2 addendum where the other four suites are found. Between the two structures sits a patio that centres the Ignacia’s energy and provides a unique common area for its visitors. The suites themselves are a feat of elegantly updated modernism, with many opportunities for the land’s tradition to shine as well, through various carefully selected artisan pieces.

While consistent in its construction of a home-like environment, the Ignacia Guest House does not deprive itself or its guests of the luxuries that one might expect. From walk-in closets to wireless Bose sound systems, and from private terraces to signature dishes based on Mexico’s culinary tradition, Ignacia manages to be a luxury home away from home.

For all the trends and shifts in the business of hospitality, it is the aesthetics of hospitality that inevitably and invariably lend this small property its character, and on that front, the Ignacia Guest House finds its opportunity to shine.