A house once occupied by Mexican communist party founder M. N. Roy has been converted into a nightclub by French architects Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy.
The private club, located in a run-down terrace in the Roma district of Mexico City, is named M.N.ROY in honour of its famous former resident.
The outside of the house is left completely unaltered, concealing the nightclub where a textured timber pyramid envelops a double-height dance floor and DJ booth.
Rough timber blocks and glistening copper tiles cover the walls of other rooms, which are filled with wooden and leather furniture.
Corridor walls are clad with black basalt tiles that are dramatically lit from below to accentuate patterns carved into their surfaces.
Behind the pyramid, black walls gradually step inwards to surround a dimly lit bar.
Clubbers overlook the dance floor from a glass-fronted mezzanine.
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Photography is by Ramiro Chaves.
Here are some more details from Godefroy:
M.N.ROY club in Mexico City
Chic By Accident from the Franco Mexican architect Emmanuel Picault together with the French architect Ludwig Godefroy just completed a private club in Mexico City, called M.N.ROY.
What s M.N.ROY ?
M.N.ROY is a project made as an open question, the one has for goal not to answer obviously what's actually the M.N.ROY.
In this way, the place can be perceived as an anti-project of what could be the commission of a private club in Mexico City, an more precisely in its Roma neighborhood.
In fact Roma has been very important in the definition of the architectural identity of this space, located in a very dueling neighborhood, and responding on one hand to its past, the one of the high mexican bourgeoisie of Porfirio Diaz (Mexican dictator 1876 – 1911) time which abandoned the neighborhood after the 1985 earthquake; and the today's reality of a trendy urban area that Roma became.
The club is the expression a high singular personality settling in the strong left over of its past time.
According to this, where normally the renovation of the facade appears to be the starting point, the opposite was done: letting the facade untouched to increase the rupture between the original meaning of the house and the redefinition of it.
We kept the house as a testimony of what it was, the house where Manabendra Nath Roy founded the first clandestine Mexican communist party.
By not touching the facade we made paradoxically appealing the building from outside, stimulating the curiosity of the people passing by and seeing a large queue trying to enter an almost ruin house.
Once inside, we made another step in a schizophrenic architectural way, introducing a new language, deeply belonging to the mexican culture, and nevertheless completely stranger to the Porfirio Diaz architecture time.
We used a pre-hispanic language reminiscence inside, in a participative way and not contemplative as could be a nostalgic neo pre-hispanic vision of it, introducing new materials (copper, leather, wood, volcanic stone), geometries (puuc art, maya arch, pyramids), and everything, down impressive generous volumes.
M.N.ROY is the impossible mix of cultures, volumes, architectural styles, making possible an improbable modern space of melting pot.
Architects: Emmanuel Picault / Ludwig Godefroy
Creative team: Rodrigo Madrazo / Marco Margain / Claudio Margain / Rodrigo Diaz Frances / Paolo Montiel / Leon Larregui / Emmanuel Picault / Ludwig Godefroy
Industrial design: Laila salomon / Emmanuel Picault / Ludwig Godefroy
Administration: Roberto Ayala
Construction: Aaron Yepez / Jose Luis Madrigal / Carlos Tapia / Base por altura / Alonzo Mungia / Carlos Cortes / Jose Luis Iturbe / Rigoberto Martinez
It is a good mixture of culture and history: a bit of medium age, somewhat baroque, a bit of contemporary art.
Orale!! I really need to turn off the computer and get to know my own city @_@
cool, i like the variety betwen the facade and the sculpted interiors.
make me want to got out.. friday please be over..
yewwww
really awesome…
but a thought.."how would you feel the contrast of interior and exterior ???"
Actually it seems more than a contrast, a disturbing disconnection with its own setting, a tacky joke on the architect's naive and romantic view in what being a mexican means. Just seems pretentious.
the first photo reminds me of a Zumthor Bruder Klaus Chapel…
Wonderful materiality.
That is so cool! The outside is so very unassuming yet the treasure inside reflects lavishness and elegance. It would be a very good fit for exclusive parties as the place is well hidden and will prevent party crashers from inviting themselves in. Good job Picault and Godefroy!
yo ya fui, está carísimo; medio chido.
buenas perras.
Y se ponen muy mamones en la entrada?
qué tipo de música ponen?
This club looks f… awesome but the irony of opening a private nightclub named after a communist leader seems disgustingly rich, or maybe just disgusting.
AGREED! no connection between the concept name and use… but I LOVE the use of materials!
Incredible shadow and light off of those textures. I like the nod to the heritage of the area/Mexico. The space itself translates into waveforms – a great setting for enchanting things to unfold.
However, I would have to think that the founder of the communist party of Mexico would be rolling in his grave if he could see his name attached to a private dance club for the haute culture of Mexico city to drink and dance all night, in his old house no less. Times change I guess.
The same way Che Guevara was transformed from a revolutionary symbol into a fashion cliché, probably… In any case, let's not forget Diego Rivera was a very militant member of the Communist party, but he never shied away from enjoying the favors of his wealthy clients. Go figure.
IMO I think it's positive that young entrepreneurs are trying to inject new life into neglected urban areas of the city; hopefully this will not translate into expelling the less fortunate the same way it happened in neighborhoods like Santa Fé and Tecamachalco.
Mexico is a city of contrast, in EVERY aspect you can think of —food, music, art, politics— the biggest one of all is the contrast between social and economic classes; this was somewhat lessened after the Revolution with the emerging of the middle class, but sadly the trend is reverting. My hope is that young professionals focus on trying to solve this, so that we all can live in harmony.
Hey, one can dream, right? :)
Le Corbusier disait de l’architecture qu’elle était ‘une tournure d’esprit et non un métier’.
Alors l’esprit de ces deux architectes doit être assurément une curieuse combinaison de vive acuité et de folle originalité.
Un ami béotien néanmoins admirateur…
No se emocionen en ir, aqui solo se entra estando en la lista, lastima porque tiene un buen diseño arquitectonico.
Muy buena música, chingón el lugar pero super mamón el rollo para entrar, que le bajen.
If you think about it, the design resembles MC Esher , "relativity". Great use of medium, and interior architecture, i just wonder how the acoustics come in to play here with such sharp edges and hard surfaces. does the wood paneling absorb any of the residual refractive sound? all in all FANTASTIC, AND EXCEPTIONALLY EXECUTED DESIGN.
how do the locals like it?
As most people here seem to be, I am torn between great appreciation of the club's architectural merits and the bitter irony of its location and conception. The owners are blatantly assaulting the legacy (for better or worse) of the building's former occupant, which try as I might, I can't think of as anything other than insensitive.
That said, beautiful textures and lighting; wonderful drama in the space.
I’ve been there several times. It’s really beautiful inside, excellent work! Too bad for the disgusting creature that welcomes you at the door. It was unnecessary.
Highly Pretencious! the music is good! as they said before, you need to be on the list or be friends of the bitchy tranny that host the door entrance, the crowd is boring, its a good venue though.