MÉTODO Arquitectos designs in Mexico City and Denver, Colorado — not as two firms working in different markets, but as one studio applying a consistent methodology to sites in both places. This is not common. Most architectural practices are local. We are specifically binational because the clients we work with often are too.
Why Two Cities
The decision to practice in both Mexico City and Denver reflects our clients' lives, not just a market strategy. A growing number of people own property in both countries, relocate between them, or want to build in a country they know less well. For these clients, an architect who has sat at a permit desk in Seduvi and filed documents with the City and County of Denver is more useful than two separate firms who don't talk to each other.
The two cities also share a specific climate affinity that informs the design approach. Mexico City sits at 7,350 feet. Denver sits at 5,280 feet. Both cities receive intense solar radiation, experience significant day-to-night temperature swings, and have climates that reward passive solar design and thermal mass. The design strategies that work in one city have direct analogs in the other.
What differs: structural codes (RCDF in Mexico City, IBC with Colorado amendments in Denver), seismic conditions (Mexico City has complex soil amplification; Denver is seismic zone 1), material supply chains, and contractor capabilities. We navigate these differences with local professional networks in each city.
What the Practice Looks Like in Each City
In Mexico City, MÉTODO works within the DRO system — the legal framework that requires a Director Responsable de Obra to sign off on all permitted construction. We maintain active DRO relationships in CDMX and coastal Mexico. Our projects here are typically designed in reinforced concrete with regional stone and wood, following the structural discipline that the city's seismic history demands.
In Denver, we collaborate with Colorado-licensed architects and structural engineers for permit-required documents while leading the design process from concept through construction. Projects in Denver use concrete for thermal mass and structural logic, with wood where it earns its place in span and acoustic role.
The section — not the plan, not the rendering — is the primary design tool in both places. La sección como relato: the section tells the story of how the building responds to its site. That story is different for a CDMX courtyard house and a Denver hillside residence, but it is told with the same instruments.
The Two-Country Project
Some clients engage MÉTODO because they are building in both countries. A client who has a primary residence in Denver and a vacation home on the Mexican coast, for example, may want both projects to share a material language without sharing a floor plan. We design each project specifically for its site and climate while maintaining the coherence of a single design practice across both.
This is not about applying the same aesthetic to different geographies. It is about applying the same design process — site observation, section-first logic, material honesty, the matrix of options — to different sites that require different responses. The coherence is methodological, not stylistic.
Two Permit Worlds
The permit process in Mexico City and Denver are structurally different.
In Denver, a residential building permit requires IBC-compliant construction documents stamped by a Colorado-licensed professional, energy compliance under the IECC, and structural engineering for anything beyond prescriptive wood frame. The process is handled through the city's eDMS system and typically takes 6 to 12 weeks for a complete application.
In Mexico City, the process involves the DRO, a memoria de cálculo (structural calculation memory) from a licensed structural engineer, a project registered with Seduvi, and — depending on the zone — possible review by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) if the site is in a historic or conservation area. Timeline varies from 3 months to well over a year for complex sites.
We present the permit timeline to clients as a project constraint at the start of programming, not as a surprise after design is complete.
Four Projects, Two Cities
The four-project annual limit applies across both markets combined. We do not increase volume because we have two cities. We maintain quality because we keep the total load manageable for author-led design.
This means we select projects carefully in both markets. We take projects where our design approach — concrete, stone, wood; climate-responsive; process before style — is the right answer for the site and client. We pass on projects that require a different practice model.
Próximos pasos
A practice with direct knowledge of both Mexico City and Denver is rare. The value is not in the combination for its own sake — it is in the specific depth of professional networks, code knowledge, and climate understanding in each city.
If you have a project in either city, conoce el método de MÉTODO to understand how we approach each site and whether your project is a fit.