Mexican architecture studio CRB Arquitectos has completed an innovative timber apartment building featuring planted atriums and sculptural staircases in the heart of Mexico City's vibrant Roma Norte neighborhood. The 3,770-square-meter (40,580-square-foot) building, known as ONTO Álvaro Obregón, opened in 2025 and offers a unique combination of residential units available for both sale and rent through a hotel-style management system designed to accommodate short and medium-term stays.
The project represents a significant advancement in sustainable urban construction, utilizing a hybrid timber and steel structure that minimizes environmental impact while ensuring long-term durability. "The ONTO Álvaro Obregón project aims to optimize space through a timber structure, reducing environmental impact while ensuring the building's durability," the studio explained. "Additionally, it contributes to the urban environment by respecting and enhancing the city's image, incorporating innovative construction solutions."
The building's distinctive design features a double-layered facade combining prefabricated wood and steel elements supported by a sophisticated beam structure. These beams rest on concrete columns and piles that efficiently distribute the structural load despite the area's challenging soil conditions. The innovative construction approach creates spacious interiors with generous ceiling heights, while the exposed wood and concrete elements provide both aesthetic appeal and functional benefits.
One of the building's most striking features is its gridded facade with inset balconies equipped with delicate metal railings that filter natural light and air into the modular units. The architects achieved a clean, seamless appearance by using concealed steel connectors between the wood and concrete elements, creating the visual impression that solid wooden planks were simply stacked together. This architectural solution successfully blends aesthetics with functionality throughout the structure.
The rectangular building is strategically set back from the street with a sound-insulating landscaped buffer zone while maintaining urban connectivity through a ground-floor restaurant. The structure is divided into two distinct towers separated by an interior atrium space defined by planted half-circles on either end and a central ventilation shaft that brings natural light down through all eight floors of the building.
The building's vertical gardens represent a key innovation in urban green space design. "The voids are designed to form patios at the basement level, featuring gravel flooring, monolithic concrete benches and lush vegetation including ferns, sago palms and kentias," the studio detailed. "These spaces of reflection and rest grow stronger with each level thanks to vertical gardens, creating the sensation that they extend all the way to the rooftop, accompanying users on every floor."
Sculptural staircases surrounded by natural foliage connect the apartment levels, with each floor containing four street-front units and four rear units. The compact yet efficiently designed units include a bedroom, living room, dining area, kitchenette, desk space, and bathroom. The bathrooms are discreetly connected to the central ventilation shaft through narrow windows made from repurposed railroad ties, demonstrating the project's commitment to sustainable materials.
The interior design, created by Estudio M:A, incorporates natural wood and Caledonia granite, chukum-style plastered walls, and locally sourced textiles. These materials create a cohesive design language that reflects both contemporary aesthetics and traditional Mexican craftsmanship. The careful selection of local materials also supports the project's sustainability goals while creating authentic connections to the regional architectural heritage.
The building's crown jewel is its public rooftop garden, which frames spectacular views of Mexico City and serves as a community gathering space. "The top level features a public rooftop garden that frames the best views of Mexico City," the studio noted, highlighting the bar and open-air dining area specifically designed to foster interaction between residents and outside guests. This communal space extends the building's social function beyond its residential units.
Landscape architect Hugo Sánchez designed the green spaces using low-maintenance native plants and incorporated a rainwater harvesting system that supports the building's environmental sustainability goals. The landscape design seamlessly integrates with the architectural elements to create a cohesive indoor-outdoor living experience throughout the structure.
CRB Arquitectos, founded in 2015 by Sebastián Canales and Javier Rivero Borrell, has established itself as a leading voice in sustainable urban architecture in Mexico City. This project builds on their previous work in the Roma neighborhood, including a rounded, wedge-shaped apartment building featuring orange-toned concrete and rooftop gardens that was longlisted for Dezeen's 2024 housing award. The ONTO Álvaro Obregón project represents the studio's continued commitment to innovative design solutions that address both environmental concerns and urban housing needs in one of Latin America's largest metropolitan areas.
