Mexican design firm Simon Hamui has created bespoke furnishings for a moody and minimalist Mexico City home by Spanish practice Francesc Rifé Studio, using a tactile palette of eucalyptus wood, glass, quartzite, marble and brass.
AdH House, which was completed last year, is a two-storey home in the residential neighbourhood of Lomas de Chapultepec and features a dark grey facade and black aluminium shutters across its two monolithic volumes.
Simon Hamui was commissioned by the owners to create a number of custom furniture pieces that would complement and complete the work of Francesc Rife Studio, which saw the interior finished with cream coloured walls, natural stone and wood surfaces.
“After working together in the past, [the clients] called on us to design and execute some of the key pieces of millwork and furniture throughout this house, as well as to help them curate and integrate their art collection with the millwork and interior,” explained Simon Hamui who founded his eponymous studio in 1991.
“The house, which is a masterpiece of contemporary architecture by Francesc Rife, has very clean and minimalistic lines and we needed to strike a fine balance by complementing his architecture and integrating furnishings that amplified the owner’s lifestyle and personal partiality.”
In the living room, the firm created a custom coffee table and matching bench made from honed, grand antique marble and starphire glass — a brand of low-iron, high-clarity glass. It features sculptural solid brass legs and an integrated quartzite lamp, which also serves as a support for the tabletop.
“To add an element of symmetry, we used the same quartzite featured on the coffee table for the adjacent bar mirrors and the aged brass on the bar’s base,” added Hamui.
A slatted screen divider in the dining room serves as an architectural element that divides the main hallway and living room from the dining room. Its aged brass frame encompasses smoked glass and thin wood slats that provide privacy in the dining room while still allowing light to filter through.
On the dining room side, an aged eucalyptus wood console with a grey quartzite countertop and brass detailing is integrated into the room divider.
These same materials are mirrored in the dining table with its stone top and removable extensions made of smoked eucalyptus, that help to accommodate larger parties when needed.
Sitting at either end of the table, the extensions can also be used as consoles for displaying decorative objects.
In the house’s glass-walled, temperature-controlled wine cellar, Hamui has installed rectangular wine display cases made from starphire glass. Bottles are stored on inset satin aluminium racks and lit by integrated LED lights.
“These are designed to display the bottles in the purest way possible,” said Hamui. “The intentional positioning of the bottles creates a rhythmic and ornamental tapestry-like display that decorates the exterior space and draws people in.”
The cellar also houses a Grigio Carnico marble table that can be used for hosting small gatherings.
The study was not part of the house’s original design but added by the clients after moving in as a direct response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Hamui conceived its interior as a functional wooden box, with ceiling and walls clad in eucalyptus and enhanced with micro-perforations and sound insulation to allow for greater privacy.
Hamui also added a floor-to-ceiling bookcase lined with suede leather and brass details while an angular, stainless steel chandelier by Barcelona designer Jaime Tresserra hangs above the desk.
In the family room, a large figured eucalyptus bookcase with brass bookstands and LED lighting is built into the wall behind the sofa, housing a textured Jason Martin painting as well as antique atlases. On the other side of the room, a millwork unit houses a TV and desk.
Hamui’s Mexico City workshop specialises in the design and manufacture of furniture as well as comprehensive interior design projects for private residences, hotels, restaurants, yachts and art galleries.
Last year, the studio also completed the millwork for a house with huge “beak-like” windows in New York’s Dutchess County, designed by US studio GRT Architects.
Photography is by Victor Stonem.
