Mexico is one of the countries with more museums and art galleries in the world and One of the most recent is a lake/something. This incredible cultural center is located in the Chapultepec forest in Mexico City in the same building as the famous Lake Restaurant. Within this gallery are special pieces of modern art that can be admired in contrast to the spectacular views of Lake Chapultepec, creating unparalleled experience.
The Lake Restaurant was modified to become a special cultural center.José Ignacio Vargas / Courtesy Naso
Renewing a building
The cultural project of Lake/something was created and is managed by the OMR and CMR galleryhoping to return art to the area. This architectural project was carried out by the Naso Architecture study who redesigned the existing building that was originally designed by Leónides Guadarrama and Alfonso Ramírez Ponce in 1964 and subsequently renewed by Javier Sordo Madaleno in 1998. Currently, currently Naso continues to plan and working on the restoration of the building to return its original splendor.
The most important thing about this project was to return its essence to the building, which, originally, in 1964 was the containment of different adjacent spaces that together formed a restaurant. The main purpose of the spatial renewal of the 90 Visitors could not appreciate the famous complete hyperboloid paraboloid ceiling.
Naso's design creates spaces designed for art.José Ignacio Vargas / Courtesy Naso
All in the same place
The main objective of Naso's architectural design was to understand the original project and use its different modifications to be able to Transform the building into a public gallery and restaurant space where both spaces could coexist. So the approach that was given was to develop a plan that exhibits the original structure of the building to integrate different open spaces that could provide the flexibility required for the building It will house different types of exhibitions.
During the search to recover the previously fragmented roof, it was decided to reformulate the spatial limits between the different spaces through the integration of different unevenness and low walls. It was so, that Naso managed to integrate different thresholds to separate the different programs and at the same time connect them visually without losing the original essence of the continuous hyperboloide paraboloid ceiling that is considered the main architectural characteristic of the entire space.