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Architects: ROW Studio: ROW Studio - Álvaro Hernández Félix, Nadia Hernández Félix, Alfonso Maldonado Ochoa
- Area: 968 ft²
- Year: 2016
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Photographs:Onnis Luque
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Manufacturers: Hisbalit, Blu Dot, Diez Company, Inquadra Marcos, Lee Broom, Materiam, Pardo Oscuro, Tecnolite
Text description provided by the architects. In a corner space, surrounded by the most important hotels of Mexico City, facing Reforma, the ceremonial boulevard created in the 19th century by Maximilian Habsburg as Emperor of Mexico and across the street from Chapultepec, one of the largest urban parks in the world, stands Barberia Royal, a barbershop that offers services as privileged as its location.
Through our design we wanted to incorporate the bits and pieces of a previous proposal that was under construction on the site for a different barbershop that was never finished, recycling mismatching moldings and other wooden elements almost randomly, fitting them in a contemporary form that still references the traditional symbols of European royalty.
The lower half of the space relates in colors and materials to the long standing heritage of traditional barbershops including a black and white hexagonal tiles floor with a flower pattern and the Royal name greeting all the patrons at the entrance.
In contrast the ceiling is shaped with an intricate faceted surface that adapts to the changing heights of the space and the structural elements of the building finished with a laser-cut golden anodized aluminum reflective surface that mirrors the plan view of the shop and sharpens the edges of the volume creating a point of interest for the clients as they lay back on the service chairs.
The store plan is distributed into two equally important zones: the waiting area with a fully stocked courtesy bar, very comfortable leathered stools and sofas, shelves with exhibition of the best grooming products for sale that share the space with a real life buffalo head and a fully restored vintage Triumph motorcycle as decorative highlights; the service area is furnished with original chairs from the 1950s upholstered in mustard yellow each facing a large scale beveled mirror with a rounded gilded frame with golden heads of a lion, a wolf, a stag, a zebra, an elephant and a moose fixed onto its surfaces.
The interior is sheltered from the outside with a double wooden façade reminiscent of old English storefronts reduced to its minimum expression.
The branding and image design was realized by Andy Butler who devised a flexible communication system that incorporates symbols associated to royal houses and heraldry along with the barbers’ basic tools to create graphic elements that work from the scale of a card or a product to large scale signage and digital applications.
Along the store several pieces of artwork and decoration stylized by Ivan Esqueda detail every corner of the space.
