JSa transforms Mexican factory for its own architecture studio
Mexico City-based studio JSa has adapted a mid-century factory into an office and studio space for its practice, maintaining many industrial details as a "manifesto in regenerative design".
Constructed in 1954, the Ice Factory building was part of the Cervecería Central beer factory. Most of the once-full-block factory was demolished after the Mexico City earthquake of 1985, leaving the Ice Factory, which was operational until the mid-1990s.
In 2023, JSa – which is run by architect Javier Sánchez – converted the historic structure into a new studio space. It has been shortlisted for the workplace project (small) category of Dezeen Awards 2025.
For the 1,023-square metre (11,011-square foot) project, the studio focuses on preserving the memory of the original building and its relationship to the surrounding Atlampa neighbourhood.
"Facing the historical heritage of the factory meant more than passively inheriting it; moreover, implying its assumption as an opportunity to conceive an architecture that combines creativity with rigor, and poetry with ethics," the studio told Dezeen.
"In designing our new home we decided to make the project a manifesto of our beliefs in regenerative design," the studio continued.
"A place where solar power, rain harvest, on-site water treatment, and vegetation, achieve a symbiotic reciprocity between the building, its new landscape and their users."
The design allows remnants of the industrial past to prevail through each space, transforming steel pillars, pipes, catwalks, metal curtains and stairs into sculptural backgrounds.
The building is divided into two main spaces – a light, open ground floor with collaboration spaces reached through a planted courtyard and a heavy concrete mass that contains private space for focused work on the upper level.
The studio added a porticoed pavilion to the south of the main building and an open-air terrace to the roof.
"It was important to keep the honest sobriety of the original structure. For us, the factory had to remain a factory," the studio said.
"Thus, the material palette came as the result of an instinctive process where we evaluated what could be preserved, resolving what had to be restored, and finding the potential for appended reforms."
It preserved characteristics such as the wedge-shaped puncture in the north wall and retained the original exterior tilework and rough concrete faces.
The studio integrated a regenerative water system, drawn from closed-loop systems in houses set in mountainous forests, that harvests and treats rainwater on site and eliminates dependence on city water.
"We wanted to prove that a self-sufficient water cycle wasn't just a rural ideal, but a viable, functional reality for an urban workplace," the studio said.
"We now move forward with the conviction that regenerative water systems are an essential part of our urban everyday life, bringing them from the periphery to the very center of our designs ever since."
The integrated landscape design and architecture allow for daylit and naturally ventilated spaces through sliding windows and skylights and negates the need for a mechanical HVAC system.
"The harmony between architectural project, water systems, landscaped gardens and solar array, succeeds in transforming the once abandoned barrenness into an alluring sanctuary of pause," the studio said.
"One that invites us to contemplate ourselves within and as part of the space, while actively involving us with the elements of its design."
Recently, JSa collaborated with Mta+v to build a curving, petal-like apartment complex in Mexico City. The studio also teamed up with Robert Hutchison Architecture for an extensive rainwater harvesting system integrated into the design of a house in Temascaltepec.
The photography is by Rafael Gamo.
Project credits:
Architecture and interior design: JSa - Aisha Ballesteros, Benedikt Fahlbusch, Javier Sánchez
Project team: Israel Silva, Isaías González, Juan Pedro López, Roberto Ledezma, Francisco Martínez
Structural engineering: Hector Margain y Asociados
Landscape design: Genfor Landscaping, Tepetl
Lighting design: LSBA Studio
Rain harvest system: Isla Urbana, Soluciones Hidropluviales
Blackwater treatment system: TIM - Tecnologías Integrales Medioambientales
Photovoltaic system: Caliza
The post JSa transforms Mexican factory for its own architecture studio appeared first on Dezeen.
