Hierve

Hierve
Location: 
Mexico
Founded: 
1999
Principal(s): 

Alejandro Villarreal

Hierve-Diseñería is a small multi-disciplinary design firm based in Mexico City and London. The firm was established in 1999 by Alejandro Villarreal, with the purpose of serving society through high quality projects in architecture, product design, visual arts and the developing of business models. At the core of our belief system is the underlying idea that creativity should not serve itself, but should serve society as a whole.

The word “Hierve”, which means boiling, stands for the active, moving and dynamic properties of any liquid at its boiling point, representing our continuous need to generate ideas, concepts and solutions for a better living. The word “Diseñeria”, which means designery, is a self coined word which accounts for our main activity, just as it has been traditionally used for bakeries, carpentries and smitheries.

The company is small and it has a global approach. We team up with highly qualified professionals who bring up their talent from Mexico City (Mexico), London (UK), Boulder (USA), Sofia (Bulgary), Munich (Germany), etc. Since the beginning the company has looked at finding a balance between efficiency and artistic thrive, between practicality and creative insight. We believe that a high level of creativity can be achieved alongside a high level of efficiency and business sense.

Since we do not believe in the exclusivity of creativity, we develop projects for any people, in any place and with any level of resources. We are equally excited to work with the private sector than with NGOs, with individual clients than with corporate clients, with commercial projects than with projects with social connotations.

When developing a project we open ourselves up to the past, to history. We believe there is a great amount of information in past achievements and efforts. However we also open ourselves up to innovation, to new insights and ideas that can bring up something good an useful. At the same time we believe that each project should be unique, it should emerge from its own specific conditions and requirements. We take the time to listen, to research, to understand and to develop, and in doing so, we let each project get its own language and personality.

One of our top priorities is to develop a sense of intimacy with each project that we make. Each project is developed exhaustively with utmost precision and attention to detail. That´s why we work with a small number of simultaneous projects, and we opt for small to medium scale projects. We think of our creative endeavor more as a craft, as an constant learning process done with passion, attention, care and respect. As a painstaking process that needs time to refine itself, to become its best possible outcome.

We use many different tools throughout the creative process. We feel comfortable with both traditional techniques and state of the art technologies. We feel the same passion for a hand drawn sketch than for a computer generated drawing, by a hand made scale model than by the use of Building Information Modelling and Rapid Prototyping technologies.

We believe that the creative process should be a cooperative and open one, in which every exchange, by every participant, should enrich the process itself and its final outcome. We promote constant interaction and discussions not just with our clients, but with our co-workers, design specialists, builders, manufacturers, marketing team, etc.

Finally, all our efforts and all our creative energy are driven by a single purpose, by a single motivation: to bring well being to people. At the core of our aspirations is that everyone who experiences one of our projects can feel uplifted and enhanced as a human being.

Key projects: 

Club Hípico, Municipio de Lerma, Mexico, 2010, Horse Riding Complex

Santa María, Valle de Bravo, Mexico, 2010, Housing development

Las Torres, Cuautitlán Izcalli, Mexico, 2007, Housing complex

Depa H, Mexico City, Mexico, 2006, single bedroom apartment

Liverpool, Mexico City, Mexico, 2006, Housing development

Hesiodo, Mexico City, Mexico, 2003, Housing development

La Antena, Mexico City, Mexico, 2000, Housing development

Sistema Arde, San Miguel de Allende and Mexico City, Mexico, 2000, CMU constructive system

Key awards: 

2010, Winner of the Housing category, La Obra del Año, Revista Obras, Mexico City, Mexico

2010, Shortlisted in the Housing (inc mixed use) category, World Architecture Festival, Barcelona, Spain

2010, Commended project in the Retail and Leisure category, MIPIM Architectural Review Future Project Awards, Cannes, France

Key publications: 

“Verde Verticale, Aspetti figurativi, ragioni funzionali e soluzioni tecniche nella realizazzione di living walls e green facades”, Italy, 2009

“Lo mejor del siglo XXI-volume 2, Arquitecturas Mexicanas 2005-2006”, Mexico, 2007

“Design like you give a damn: Architectural responses to humanitarian crisis”, USA, 2006

Projects by this firm

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 - Las Torres
Outside view - Club Hipico
 - Liverpool
 - Hesiodo
 - Depa H
 - La Antena
 - Sistema Arde