The HABITA Hotel is located at the corner of Av. Presidente Mazaryk and Lamartine Street in Colonia Polanco, one of the busiest commercial corridors in Mexico City. The hotel was built in the 1950s as an apartment building, but was renovated in 2004 to become a hotel. The renovation included the addition of a translucent glass skin that covers the entire building. The glass skin is perforated with horizontal stripes of transparent glass, which direct and frame the views from the hotel rooms. The translucent façade continually changes color, brightness, and reflections based on the light conditions, clouds, time of day, and sky hues. During the night the building becomes an urban lantern whose intensity varies according to the use inside.The ground floor of the hotel houses the reception and restaurant. The reception is separated from the street by a thin transparent glass skin. The access through Mazaryk Avenue is framed by means of a suspended horizontal plane that cuts out the building from south to north. This virtual circulation is contained by a solid stone bar, a mural, and a light box that functions as a counter.The HABITA Hotel proposes a space of tranquility and rest in the heart of one of the most energetic neighborhoods in the city. The immaterial and ethereal image of the building stimulates an intense sensory experience for the visitor. The main architectural element of the hotel is light, which, when interacting with the different surfaces, reinforces the qualities of the materials, making the spaces come alive through their very habitability.
