(“Text as submitted by Architect”)
Salvador Reyes Ríos
Salvador is an Industrial Technician and Architect with postgraduate degrees in Design, Urban Specialization, and Conservation of Historic Buildings. His career spans architectural, interior, and furniture design, with a strong focus on restoring historic properties, private residences, and cultural buildings internationally.
His professional experience includes partnering in Mario Pani’s urban workshop, serving as Associate Director at Grupo Plan, and working as CEO of A+I. In 2001, he co-founded the successful studio Reyes-Rios + Larrain in Merida alongside Josefina Larrain. He also has an extensive academic background, having taught and coordinated programs at institutions like UAM, Universidad Marista, and UVM, while maintaining active membership in the Yucatecan College of Architects.
Throughout his career, he has earned prestigious accolades such as the Alberto J. Pani prize, the Young Creatives grant, and academic merit medals from both UAM and IPN. His influential work has achieved global recognition, being prominently featured in the Phaidon Atlas of World Contemporary Architecture and comprehensively celebrated in his studio’s monograph published by Arquine.
Josefina Larraín Lagos
Josefina is a self-taught artist and designer with extensive experience in historic restoration, landscape, and interior design. After growing up and studying Philosophy in Germany, she moved to New York in 1988, where she worked as a sculpture assistant and collaborated on short films. She later relocated to Miami to restore murals and sculptures for iconic historic sites such as Vizcaya and the Biltmore Hotel.
In 1990, she acquired and transformed an old henequen hacienda in southeastern Mexico into her private residence. This sparked a career in restoring several other historic haciendas in Yucatan, where she has lived permanently since 1995. Her diverse professional ventures also included co-directing a hybrid coconut plantation during the mid-1990s.
She is the co-founder and partner of the Reyes-Rios + Larrain design studio in Merida, working alongside Salvador Reyes Rios. Beyond her professional design and restoration work, she is deeply committed to social causes, having served as the President and board member of the CEDIDOWN foundation since 2010 to provide therapy and support for children with Down Syndrome.
Practice Ideology
Our ideology towards architectural practice places the user at the center while utilizing natural light as a primary design vehicle. We believe that form and function must emerge from an integrated conciliation between space, technology, and sustainability. Our ultimate goal is to provide a positive stimulation of the senses, fostering a deep connection between the building, its origins, its site, and its time.
When approaching renovation and reuse, we strive to update the sense of use and technologies to reflect current collective thinking without losing the essence of the original space. Recreating the old demands thoughtful interpretation and a rigorous analysis of historical and compositional preexistences. This approach allows us to reconvert architecture and give it new meaning, actively avoiding literal copies of historical elements in favor of authentic reinvention.
Light is a fundamental resource that reveals and multiplies the potential of spatial qualities. It establishes a dialogue that gives identity and an endless-time sense to our buildings. Furthermore, open spaces and custom furniture are substantial parts of our compositions. Gardens work as atmosphere stabilizers that dematerialize and expand architectural space, while our specific furniture designs ensure functional consistency, allowing users to deeply connect with and adapt to their environment.
Experimentation with materials serves as an essential guideline and source of inspiration for our practice. We rescue traditional, local techniques and adapt them to current technologies to enhance and give unique identity to our modern work. Rediscovering and reinventing local methods like the Chukum stucco, obtained from endemic tree resin, or the Pixoy and Kancab natural sealant paints, exemplifies our commitment to blending historical roots with contemporary feasibility. Through these practices, we aim to create spaces that are rich in texture, identity, and cultural resonance.
