SAN JOSE INSURGENTES, MEXICO CITY, 2013

In the last decades there has been a degeneration of the “Action Office”, a model generated in the 60‘s by Robert Propst, resulting on a series of homogeneous, universal, anonymous and repetitive spaces, which form a deficient spatial response for today’s working space needs.

Today, working shapes and formats shift rapidly, the constant redefinition of collaborations, privacy, and the increasing interest for the well being of the workers, are directly related to the environments where we work in. Places where today, change and adaptation are always a constant.

The project  for Element Studios manages the program through the “flexible band”, which is capable of hosting the totality of activities thanks to its capacity to adaptation and permeability without losing the capacity to tension, or become impermeable and fragment in smaller spaces if needed. The total project’s surface is 964 m2, due to a restricted budget only 316 m2 were “activated” by the proposal, but as Manada was able to stack a second layer in it, they generated a total of 1,281 m2 of usable surface.
The tight execution calendar (16 weeks from commission of the project, to project development, construction, and completion), functionality, economy and construction speed were an essential part of the itinerary and the way we tackled the execution. Paradoxically the spaces get “free” by the definition of different work “stages” that lack obvious formal hierarchies. The “flexible band” that integrates the intervention is shaped by 174 prefab, lightweight and structural wood panels. This panels create the space when they get installed on site and resolve the program needs by its shape and its great capacity for adaptation to the original space, which is one of the priorities we efficiently wanted to solve.

The concept and the design of Element Studios brought Manada architecture an award PRISMA by Habitat Expo in Mexico City in the category of 300 m2+. 
Also first place for the national Award in Interiorism AMDI 2013 and second place for the XIII Bienal Nacional de Arquitectura Mexicana 2014

Element Studios:
Area 1,281 m2
Manufacture of Wood Work: www.lainvencible.org

Fotografia: Jaime Navarro

POLANCO, MEXICO CITY

Formerly a cafe, this retail unit measuring 128m2 was completely refurbished to accommodate the Mythos restaurant.

Following demolition of the interior including several structural walls, flooring was replaced with oak parquet custom made in the Invencible factory and the ceilings were lined with solid oak beams with the intention of simulating the internal structure of a boat. Through the use of select furniture and soft yet strategically placed lighting and shadows, we were able to achieve a subtle yet elegant mediterranean ambience.

Area 128 m2                                                                               

Seating 80 guests

Manufacture of Wood Work: www.lainvencible.org

Fotografia: Jaime Navarro

CENTRO HISTORICO, MEXICO CITY, 2017

Architectural Project :
KATERINA ALATZIA
Manufacture of Wood Work: www.lainvencible.org

Fotografia: Massimo Perna

MEXICO CITY, 2017

material: 100% handcrafted solid american oak, impregnated with natural oils and waxes

production: www.lainvencible.org

HIPODROMO CONDESA, MEXICO CITY, 2016

Men have developed prosthetics generally for two purposes: the first, to correct the function of a damaged organ; the second to enhance the capability of an organ. For example, the glasses that an optician prescribes are corrective prosthetics which enable the wearer to recover 20/20 vision. In contrast, the telescope or microscope extend the capabilities of the eye. Such apparatus allow the user to see things so microscopic and so far away which would otherwise be invisible to the naked eye. 

The architectural project developed for the refurbishment of the apartment in the Condesa district of Mexico City blurs the lines with regard to binary distinction. The name “ensayo” or “trial” in itself is literally a reference to the fact that the approach to the project would not be a simplistic one, but an approach from different angles. One might say, that the space is literally wrapped in order to discover its space potential. A finely detailed wooden structure was assembled in the space according to the same logic as scaffolding in order to extend the original function of the space. In certain areas, the scaffold includes numerous stairs while in others it is necessary to sustain a raised platform or mezzanine, itself equipped with shelving allowing for the creation of a library. From here, the scaffold extends into the patio creating a natural service passage and finally embracing the patio wall and creating a vertical garden.

In other words, the architects have woven scaffolding which rises, turns, twists, fills, empties and is ultimately populated with plants achieving the desired aim of making use of wasted space in the apartment. The scaffold combines interior with exterior, it connects different levels, it thickens where privacy is required and opens where transparency is desired.

The Dutch artist Constant’s “New Babilonia” project offered users a scaffold structure in order to adapt the living space, while the architects simultaneously achieve what one might consider to be a corrective and enhancing prosthesis. Corrective in the sense that it generates connections between dead spaces and enhancing in that the structure is equipped to allow for sitting, storing and planting even though it is primarily designed to be a support.

Ivan  Hernandez Quintela

Architectural Project :
KATERINA ALATZIA / MANADA www.manada.com.mx
Manufacture of Wood Work: www.lainvencible.org

Fotografia: Jaime Navarro

MEXICO CITY, 2016

material: 100% handcrafted solid walnut wood, impregnated with natural oils and waxes; steel substructure, powder-coated in black. This unique design and careful manufacturing allows for this 3600 mm table to be supported by only for legs in each corner.

production: www.lainvencible.org

It was one of the destinations I was looking forward the most during my trip to Paris: visit Brancusi’s atelier reconstructed as an extension of the Con- temporary Art Museum Georges Pompidou. As it tends to happen in iconic destinations such as Paris, one arrives with a series of images of the city that shape expectations. In this occasion, I had in mind a black and white photograph where the Rumanian sculptor was sitting at his studio in between a series of his sculptures. Even though Brancusi was a robust man, his body seems to be one more robust body in the space. What had captured my attention from that photograph was how Brancusi seemed to be emerged in a space mostly inhabited by his work. One could see material all around, raw material, waiting to be manipulated by the talented sculptor. As the line to enter the gallery advanced little by little, I was suspicious that, since I was visiting what it is a reconstruction of the original atelier, it was very possible that the spirit of the place that had so fascinated me in the photograph might have been missing, misplaced. To add to my suspicion, as I enter the rst exhibition space, I noticed that a cord, meant to control the crowd, separated the circula- tion walkway from the sculptures. Still, as soon as I saw Brancusi’s sculptures crowded in a way, as he used to have them in his original atelier, I was proven wrong; the spirit of the photograph I was so attracted to was still palpable. Each sculpture stood with a material dignity that was enhanced by the light entering from above. And in conjunction, they made up a very peculiar yet consistent family. Each sculpture carrying its own density, its own materiality, in its own shape, yet it was evident they all came from the same hand, a tough yet sensitive hand. Once again I was surprised by the mood that remained from the photograph: that of a space that felt organic, a space in constant construction; a space that changed with each new action the sculptor took. It was not clear which sculptures were nished, which rough block of wood was waiting to be worked on or had already been worked into that rawness. The space felt inhabited by the process of making. The space pulsated with the energy of raw materials.

One must keep in mind that it was Brancusi himself who took the black and white photographs we now see it most of his monographs. To him, it was of utmost importance to document his sculp- tures under what he perceived to be the ideal conditions. And that happened to be just as he lived them day-by-day, in his studio. In certain of these photographs, one can perceive a series of daily tools of inhabitation: a bed in a corner, a stove in between sculptures, a table that like other sculptures seemed to be comprised by the stacking of one raw material over another. At times, the table he used to eat at was no different from any of the solid bases he initiated his sculptures with. Brancusi’s atelier, cannot be forgotten, was also his living space. He lived amongst his sculptures. It could be said that Brancusi lived the time and space of his sculptural work. Some pieces stand highly polished. Others remain raw. Still, they all seem to stand in a latent state, receptive to one last touch from their maker.

Going back to my experience of his atelier, I was surprised that even with the absence of the sculptor, the space felt vital, alive. It is my per- ception that the vitality takes place as one moves within the space. It is then that the corporality of the space shows itself, as we recognize the space that is created between the sculptures. The result is that the space itself becomes sculptural.

Brancusi must have enjoyed living within all that materiality. There is something in it all that transmits a state of constant metamorphosis. The sculptures, all of them in process, must have cre- ated a sense of familiarity, if not a sense of family that kept the sculptor company. The interaction, some of it visual, a lot of it manual, must have gotten deeper with each movement. Each new sculpture transformed and activated in a new way the space. If we put attention, which intrinsically

implies the use of our imagination, we can, even in the visit Brancusi’s reconstructed atelier, perceive the tactile relationship the sculptor must have es- tablished with his space and with all the sculptures that conform it – a life of contact.

In the same spirit, Katerina Alatzia’s sculptures – a series of bodies of objects – create a sense of familiarity. They are at once worked out with a precise geometry that rings of the universal at the same time that they are worked out at the scale of the hand. The result is that one feels one has in their possession a world of space; In one’s hand one grabs a utopia – complex shapes that one can comprehend, that one feels familiar with. Alatzia’s sculptures pulsate with a similar vitality as the work of Brancusi does. Alatzia’s sculptures turn out to be objects, no doubt, meticulously worked out. And perhaps because of it, is that one feels the weight in them, the weight of labor, the weight of effort. Alatzia’s sculptures are beautiful objects that gain their beauty by carrying in them their taking shape – they are sculptural bodies that show the effort of the body that worked on them. I believe that quality can only be achieved when one’s purpose is to give life to an object. With that in mind, I believe Katerina Alatzia’s work pulsates. It pulsates with a sense of utopia – with a desire to give shape to the intangible. 

text: Ivan Hernandez Quintela

production: www.lainvencible.org

MEXICO CITY, 2013

Contemporary cities offer contemporary lifestyle, and these usually come accompanied with a big portion of stress. There is nothing better than arriving to your little piece of heaven, your small kingdom, where you rule everything - to your home. Especially, when you are received by a WIRT (host), which will take care of you and make you comfortable, it will make you leave all the worries behind and all of that extra weight outside, and get you ready for the cozy reality of your home.

WIRT’s function is to receive and prepare you to enjoy the commodity of your home. It makes easier the transition between exterior and interior life. Between stress and calmness.
When you are leaving your home, WIRT says “come back soon”, it prepares you for the exterior world, gives your coat, gives you the last look and approves your style before leaving.

WIRT combines different essential functions for the contemporary flaneur in one single object. WIRT can be configured depending of the space where you place it, so there are no excuses to not be received. It can be more austere or fully equipped, but it will always receive you warmly when you get back home.
100% Handcrafted in solid american oak, WIRT is finished in black with its wood veins still visible. WIRT can hold you favorite magazines, your everyday post mail, it can hang your coat, store your umbrella, place your keys, and make you feel confident before going out with its mirror.

material: 100% handcrafted american oak, in black mate

production: www.lainvencible.org

MEXICO CITY, 2013

This desk was created during the construction of Element Studios. It is the first idea and production of the series "office systems".

This particular piece is based on an image of several tschech hedgehogs during wartime in the 40s. Struture and shape of these objects were reconceptualized for designing the table.

HEDGEHOG tables are constructed in varying sizes and with a range of finish options. Table tops options are coming in solid wood, corian and in varying colors. The flexibility in shapes and colors reflect the spirit of modernist design. 

production: www.lainvencible.org

MEXICO CITY, 2011

BED 42 has been awarded with the Interior Innovation Award 2012 by the German Design Council at the IMM Cologne. 
The 42 Bed will be displayed at the imm Cologne fair, 16 - 22 January, 2012, and has already been booked for other exhibitions around Europe.
The 42 Bed is a materialization of multiple explorations Katerina. By mixing a bed and a desk in one product, they explore the flexibility of use of everyday objects; keeping always as a priority the aspiration to create quality products that are both sustainable in an economical, social and environmental way and timeless in their design. 

The design of the 42 Bed reflects from one side the precision that characterizes German design, and on the other side the handcrafting skills of Mexican artisans. The bed has been manufactured in 4 weeks without any machine fabrication by using 2 inches certified solid walnut wood and local handcraft work

production: www.lainvencible.org

MEXICO CITY, 2011

The MODULAR shelf system takes versatility to the limit, with an intelligent and abstract design which helps to combine functional with flexible. This flexibility ensures that every combination is unique to the necessities of the client allowing for a unique design to be mass-produced.

CONDESA, MEXICO CITY, 2012

LOMAS DE HIPODROMO, MEXICO CITY, 2012

With the objective of separating the living space from the main hallway, the LC shelf was developed as a multi-functional solution. It not only creates a distinct and definite separation between quarters but with optimal space usage, it stores, accommodates and displays the owner's art collection.

material: 100% handcrafted american oak with a natural finish

production: www.lainvencible.org