Live, Eat, Be Well

Mexican Mid-century modern style meets
health-oriented gourmet foods and home goods

EL PALACIO DE HIERRO: DINING, GOURMET & HOME | Centro Comercial Santa Fe, Mexico City
completed January 2018 | size 67,000 sf | photos Paul Rivera
Contributing Shop! members: TPG Architecture architecture | Porcelanosa Mexico stone/tile

Each Palacio department store has its own unique personality – “wellness” is the definitive design driver for this location in Mexico City’s business district. The new fourth floor is a health-oriented destination for gourmet food and home offerings featuring a large open-air-inspired dining terrace (“terraza”) that brings together offerings from beloved chefs of Mexico City. The outdoor-inspired space, surrounding a bright and sunny central atrium, has an open-air market feel with a casual vibe that encourages customers to walk through the entire floor.

Natural wood and stone materials underscore the wider wellness concept. Decorative encaustic tiles in neutral whites and grays create dynamic patterns across the floors, while decorative metal screens devide the open space into distinct, yet transparent areas. Geometric patterns in the impressive atrium skylight and polished steel ceiling grids were inspired by the neighborhood’s Mexican Mid-century modern style residences designed by architect Luis Barragán. With limited budget for skylights outside the atrium, lightboxes with sky images in the geometric ceiling grids create the appearance of natural light elsewhere on the floor. Green plants and a clean and fresh palette of light finishes bring the health and wellness story full circle.