graciastudio Adds Steel and Board-Formed Concrete to a Historic House in Mexico City's Colonia Roma

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This article covers topics related to Residential Building, Architecture, Conservation Architecture, Romanian Architecture, Building Design, Brazilian Architecture, Latin American Houses, Mexican Architecture. In Mexico City's Roma neighborhood, Casa Tonalá restores a patterned historic facade and threads a black steel stair through a concrete light well.

In Mexico City's Roma neighborhood, Casa Tonalá restores a patterned historic facade and threads a black steel stair through a concrete light well.

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UNI Editorial published Blog under Residential Building, Architecture on Oct 10, 2026

Casa Tonalá is a renovation. That deserves to be said first, because in Colonia Roma the easy option for a 556 m² house on a flat, rectangular lot would have been to clear the site and start again. graciastudio kept the existing house, restored its interior and exterior spaces, and built new volumes onto it. The stated aim was to protect the elements that give the house its identity and its historic value.

The interesting part is how firmly the studio keeps the two layers apart. The Mexican architecture publication Arquine titled its coverage Una arquitectura, dos lenguajes, or "one architecture, two languages," and the phrase fits. On the street side, the house keeps its stepped parapets, lattices and diagonal grilles. Behind that front, the additions are built from black steel, board-formed concrete, glass and reclaimed timber. The house never blends the two. We think it is a better project for that, because each language becomes easier to read next to the other.

A Street Front Left to Speak for Itself

White street facade of a two-storey house behind two flowering bare trees, with a red car parked out front and a pedestrian passing under blue sky

White and grey street facade with barred windows and a patterned metal garage door, a vintage cream convertible parked in front under cloudy sky

Street facade with a dark metal-clad bay of stained glass above an arched wooden gate, a flowering jacaranda in front

The facade carries a lot of detail. The garage is topped by an element that reads like a horizontal pilaster, filled with a row of celosías. A projecting element sits at the centre of each upper-floor facade. Stepped parapets finish the roofline. The window and door grilles follow geometric patterns built mostly from diagonals. graciastudio restores all of this rather than reinterpreting it.

The dark metal-clad bay of stained glass above the arched wooden gate does the most work on the street. It is the one place where the new material palette shows up in public. It sits above the historic gate without competing with it, and it suggests the steel and glass to come further inside.

Restored Rooms on the Ground Floor

Entry hall with octagonal arches framing a geometric glazed door, terrazzo floor and dining and sitting rooms to either side

Living room with a full-height white bookshelf around a television, stained glass window and sunbeams crossing the concrete wall

Living room seen through a sliding glass wall toward the courtyard stair, with a hammock and a bookshelf on the left

The entry hall establishes the tone of the original house. Octagonal arches frame a geometric glazed door, the floor is terrazzo, and dining and sitting rooms open to either side. These are formal, symmetrical rooms, and the renovation lets them keep that character.

In the living room, a full-height white bookshelf, a stained glass window and a board-formed concrete wall share a single space. Sunlight crossing the concrete shows the meeting of the two languages more clearly than any written description could. The sliding glass wall toward the courtyard is the point where the house changes over from old to new.

The Stair as the New Spine

Steel staircase with geometric black railings zigzagging up a board-marked concrete light well, with potted ferns and hanging planters below

Black steel stair with a line-pattern railing against a board-formed concrete wall, with hanging spider plants and a planted bed below

Black steel stair with geometric line-pattern railings rising past board-formed concrete walls and potted plants in a narrow light well

If the additions have a signature element, it is the black steel staircase. It zigzags up a narrow, board-marked concrete light well. Its railings use the same line-based geometry as the diagonal grilles on the historic facade. Here, the old ornament comes back as structure.

The listed suppliers include Panel Rey steel wall profiles and the steel producer Ternium. That suggests the additions rely on lightweight steel framing, although the sources do not say so explicitly. The rough concrete and the fine steel balance each other, and ferns and hanging spider plants soften a space that could easily have felt like a shaft.

A Courtyard Built for Living In

Courtyard with a black steel staircase and geometric railing beside a red door, a hammock hung over multicolored floor tiles

Double-height courtyard with a skylight, patterned metal railings, hanging hammock and potted plants in front of a glazed living room

Board-formed concrete courtyard wall with hanging ferns and large-leaf plants beside a black steel-framed glass wall opening to the kitchen at dusk

The interior patio is where the project gathers itself. A skylight brings light down through a double-height void. A hammock hangs over multicoloured floor tiles, and a red door adds a single strong colour against the black steel. This is a courtyard you would actually spend time in, not just look at.

At dusk, a black steel-framed glass wall opens the kitchen onto planted concrete. The courtyard works as a light source and a hinge between rooms, which is how the Mexican patio has always worked. graciastudio rebuilds that type in a contemporary vocabulary rather than imitating its historic forms.

Kitchen and Upper Hallway

Galley kitchen with white cabinets and pendant lamps, ending in a stained glass wall that frames the courtyard stair

View through a black-framed glass door onto an upper hallway with wood floor, a geometric steel railing around a stairwell opening and a potted plant

The galley kitchen is deliberately plain: white cabinets and pendant lamps. It ends in a stained glass wall that frames the courtyard stair, so the most functional room in the house looks straight onto its most expressive element. Upstairs, the hallway has wood floors and the same geometric steel railing around the stairwell opening, which ties the circulation together across levels.

Upper Terraces Under Steel and Concrete

Covered upper terrace with steel beams, terracotta pots of plants and a geometric black railing in front of a board-marked concrete wall in sunlight

Covered upper walkway with dark slate floor, potted plants along the railing and a bamboo-clad wall beside sliding glass doors

Concrete roof overhang above a glass sliding door opening onto a slate terrace with flowering potted trees in afternoon sun

The upper floor is laid out around covered outdoor space. Steel beams and thin concrete overhangs shade walkways paved in dark slate. Terracotta pots line the railings. A bamboo-clad wall sits beside sliding glass doors. The materials become warmer as you climb, and the boundary between inside and outside becomes thinner.

These are generous intermediate spaces, partly covered and partly open. In a dense neighbourhood like the Roma, they give the house room to breathe without spreading across the lot.

The Roof Terrace as a Second Garden

Dusk terrace with a reclaimed timber wall, a wooden bench, a long dining table and terracotta pots of plants along a white parapet

Covered rooftop terrace with a thin concrete roof slab, reclaimed timber wall and potted plants under a cloudy dusk sky

Upper floor living space opening through a sliding glass wall to a terrace with potted plants and a flowering jacaranda tree

The azotea finishes the sequence. A reclaimed timber wall, a long dining table and a wooden bench sit under a thin concrete slab, with planters along the white parapet. The upper living space slides open toward a flowering jacaranda, so the street tree in front of the house becomes part of the interior view.

In many houses the roof is left over as service space. Here it is used as a room, and given the city's climate and density, that is the right decision.

Why This Project Matters

Colonia Roma is under steady pressure from redevelopment. Casa Tonalá shows that you can add substantial program to a historic house without either erasing it or burying the new work under imitation. The restored facade, arches and grilles stay in charge of the house's public face. The steel, concrete and timber take over the inside and the vertical circulation.

The larger lesson is about restraint in how the parts relate. graciastudio does not soften the meeting between old and new; it repeats the diagonal geometry of the historic grilles in the new railings and leaves the rest to contrast. For anyone working on heritage houses in Latin American cities, this is a useful precedent: let each layer stay recognisable, and connect them with a few clear moves.

Casa Tonalá by graciastudio, Colonia Roma, Mexico City, Mexico. Area: 556 m². Completed: 2015. Photography: Onnis Luque.

About the Studio

graciastudio

Official website of graciastudio, one of the studios behind this project.

graciastudio.com

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