Designed by t-unoauno and Arqaz, Meloso Restaurant rediscovers local vernacular architecture and the traditions of a population. Located in San Luis Tlaxialtemalco, a district of Mexico City, the restaurant was created following the earthquake that struck the capital in 2017. The small geographical area preserves traces of the pre-Hispanic era and continues to cultivate on floating gardens, the chinampas.

The government’s reconstruction of the city abolished the pre-existing architectural identity, not taking into account the socio-cultural context and the inhabitants’ way of socialising (consolidated in festivals and encounters in patios). The project seeks that identity: the small 45 square metre venue is designed to interpret the history of the area, incorporating elements – colours, shapes, furnishings – that recall the culture and history of the place. 

The vernacular architecture can be found in the textures and earth tones, the raw materiality of the mud and their primordial significance. One wall of the restaurant and the front of the bar are entirely covered with perforated bricks.

At the entrance, a large archway welcomes visitors, who enter an environment of clear geometries and clean cuts. The interior, based on the concept of synthesis, lets light in through a circular window and includes furnishings that are a tribute to the seating used in local festivities – simple wooden boards on stacks of partitions.