Operating between Mexico City and Denver is not a geographic coincidence — it reflects the actual geography of our client relationships and the architecture that interests us. In MÉTODO, both offices share one design methodology: the process before the style, materialidad honesta, and the section as the primary design document.
Two Climates, One Method
CDMX and Denver are both high-altitude cities with cool nights, intense solar radiation, and significant temperature swings between seasons. The passive design logic that works in Mexico City's Valle de Bravo also works in Colorado's Front Range: thermal mass for temperature regulation, south-facing glazing for winter solar gain, and shading devices calibrated to summer sun angles.
The material palette — stone, wood, and concrete — performs in both climates. These are materials that age with dignity in cold-dry and temperate-dry environments. They do not require the maintenance cycles that painted or clad surfaces demand in places with freeze-thaw cycles.
This is not coincidence. We gravitated toward these two geographies because the design problems they present are structurally related.
What "Binational Practice" Actually Means Operationally
Running a practice across two countries involves real complexity that is worth being transparent about:
- Licensure: In Mexico, we operate under the professional registration of our principal architect. In Colorado, we work in coordination with locally licensed architects of record for permit submissions, as required by state law.
- Contracts: Client agreements are structured for the jurisdiction of the project. Mexican and US contract law differ in important ways, and we use jurisdiction-appropriate language in each.
- Consultants: Structural, mechanical, and geotechnical consultants are engaged locally in each market, because code compliance and local knowledge are not transferable across borders.
- Fee structures: Mexican projects are often quoted in Mexican pesos with a USD reference; Colorado projects are quoted in USD. Currency exposure is managed explicitly in contracts.
None of this is exotic. It is the operational reality of a studio that does serious work in two countries.
The Design Process Does Not Change by Location
What is consistent across both offices is the design methodology. Whether the project is a residence in Tlalpan or a mountain home outside Denver, we run the same process:
- Site analysis — solar, topographic, climatic, program
- Matriz de opciones — two or three spatial organizations compared before committing
- Design development — one resolved scheme taken through materials and section
- Construction documents — sufficient for permit and contractor bidding
- Construction administration — principal involvement at key decision points
The four-projects-per-year limit exists to protect this process. We do not take more work than we can do with full principal attention.
Why This Matters for Residential Clients
A US client building in Mexico — in Oaxaca, in Baja, in the Riviera Nayarit — often finds it difficult to find an architect who can communicate in English, understands both cultural contexts, and has the legal and financial literacy to navigate a cross-border project.
A Mexican client building in Colorado faces the reverse: finding a design practice with a serious formal vocabulary and a rigorous process, not only stylistic references borrowed from a different context.
In MÉTODO, the Denver office is not a satellite. It is a second operational base for the same practice, serving clients whose lives and projects cross the border.
The Author Residence in Two Markets
The concept of a casa de autor — an author's residence, a house that reflects a specific design intelligence rather than a typology — is equally valid in both markets. In Mexico, it responds to a tradition of architect-designed houses that is deeply embedded in the culture. In Colorado, it addresses a residential market where custom homes are often built to a program but designed without a clear spatial logic.
The design process is the differentiator in both cases. Piedra, madera y concreto: materiales que envejecen con dignidad — in both climates, on both sides of the border.
Próximos pasos
If you are considering a residential project in Mexico City, the Pacific coast, or in Colorado's mountain communities and want to understand whether our process fits, the conversation begins at the site.
Conoce el método de MÉTODO and understand how we approach the design process regardless of which side of the border the project sits on.