Prize(s) Winners in Light Art Project
Company FARO studio
Lead Designers Cecilia González Barragán, Sofía Arredondo Reynaud, Andrés Bravo.
Other Designer's names Montserrat Quintanar Vázquez, Rena Izawa.
Photo Credits Paulina Campos, Toni Francois.
Other Credits C de Cultura, WeMake, Momoroom, Frank Colucci, Sonido Doppler, Nodalab.
Completion Date February 5th, 2023.
Project Location Edificio Francia, Roma Norte, Mexico City, Mexico.
Entry DescriptionHUÉSPED is an experiential project that highlights the narrative function of light. Located in the emblematic Edificio Francia in Mexico City, HUÉSPED aims to illuminate the layers that constitute the history behind the building.
Edificio Francia is a century-old architectural symbol of Mexico City that is now empty, awaiting its transformation into a hotel. A witness to endless stories, this turning point became a unique opportunity to rescue and make visible the multiple temporalities that compose it.
For several months, we explored its rooms, collected and archived its objects and documented its light. These explorations materialized in eight site-specific light installations that respond to the buildings' diversity in atmospheres.
HUÉSPED opened the doors of Edificio Francia for five days, inviting the public through a journey of light installations that focus on the role of the spectator - a key element in bringing each of them to life.
Guests were invited to wander around the building with the light of their flashlights. Immersing themselves in anecdotes told through large windows, sloping floors, and ruins that reflect the present while showing relics of the past.
HUÉSPED reflects on memory, impermanence, and our relationship with domesticity through architectural space, light, and objects.
Sustainability ApproachOne of the main objectives of HUÉSPED was to reflect on the memory of the building.
The recovery and reuse of objects found on the site was essential to the construction of the light installations: from worn mirrors, satellite dishes or fluorescent tubes, to the interaction of light with the existing architecture, such as time-stained windows, a slanted room due to the subsoil sinking or the sun paths documented in the building and projected back to its walls.
Lighting was the main material used to transform, tell stories and build the whole experience around the rooms of HUÉSPED.
On the other hand, most of the light sources were rented or borrowed from sponsors: BenQ for projection and Lutron and for lighting, whose dimming technology is ideal in reducing energy consumption.
