Francisco Pardo: Imperfections

Since 2015, Mexican architect Francisco Pardo has run his own practice in fast-growing and fast changing Mexico City. His projects have reflected how Mexico is transforming the idea of the Latin American city: part ancient, part colonial, part futuristic. His Havre 69 project, created with his partner from architecture firm at103, Julio Amezcua, repurposes a 100-year-old residence for upper-middle-class families into offices, 12 separate residences, a bakery and a restaurant. On the one hand, Pardo exposes large sections of brick and maintains the original tile, while on the other, he builds modernist concrete and glass boxes that frame the original facade. Likewise, the architect’s Milan44 project takes an auto-parts store in the warehouse in the Roma neighborhood of Mexico City and creates a vertical urban market that brings the storefront street level onto each level of the structure. The architecture of Francisco Pardo reflects a fresh direction in the vast project of building Latin America into the future.