Refurbishment of historic building into offices

In early 2023, Electrolit, the Mexican beverage brand, bought an early 20th century building in Houston to set up their US headquarters. Founded in Guadalajara, the company had a tradition of building urban campuses in low density neighborhoods by slowly buying and repurposing buildings over time. The structure they chose to begin their journey in Houston, a low slung, formerly industrial Spanish Revival slab located at the banks of Buffalo Bayou, resonated the ethos and cultural identity of the company.

The project became an exercise in translation between the culture of the Mexican company and its new Texan context. The highly collaborative architecture team chosen to take on the rebuild was comprised of Guadalajara based architect Luis Aldrete, Houston-based firm Schaum Architects, headed by Troy Schaum, and Jesús Vassallo, also based in Houston. The objective from the outset was to create a contemporary work space imbued with the sophistication and relaxed character of residential architecture, balancing the industrial character of the existing building with a warm palette of natural materials reminiscent of Mexican living.

With this ambition in mind, the architects stripped the existing concrete structure down to its bones, correcting and repairing some of the abuses that it had undergone through its many lives. Once the original space was visible, they introduced a series of volumetric, light wooden boxes that house smaller programs and inhabit the industrial space as sculptures, creating and lending proportion to the spaces around them. This strategy allowed the architects to add a range of needed meeting rooms and private offices of varying sizes, carefully spaced to delimit larger open work spaces and lounge areas.

Midway through the design process, Mexican interior designers Aagnes were brought on board to work on the custom furniture and decor, a decision that facilitated the sourcing and fabrication of most of the small-scale elements in from local craftsmen in Guadalajara. As the team worked to blend the architecture and furniture seamlessly, they continued to deploy warm tones and raw materials in order to strike a balance between the rough and the delicate. The result, aided by the thoughtful use of natural light, is a relaxed and subdued atmosphere that stands in opposition to the stridence of contemporary corporate vernacular.

Through its careful consideration of existing conditions and its balance between the industrial and the intimate, the project also manages to strike a different balance, between the company’s origins in Mexico and its new location in Houston. Ultimately, this new hybrid identity is a testament to a discerning client and a diverse group of architects and designers, all collaborating across borders to find common ground.



 Project authors: Luis Aldrete, Jesús Vassallo, Troy Schaum, Aagnes