Em-Estudio turns a Mexico City basement into a bar lined with books

Mexico City studio Em-Estudio has completed Libreria Valladolid, a basement bar set below an early 20th-century house in the capital's historic Roma neighbourhood, its walls lined with thousands of books stacked spine inwards.

The design was driven by the vintage bookstores of the colonia, and it sets out to reproduce the feeling of browsing them. The studio put it plainly: "It captures the thrill felt when entering these places, searching for a unique story that has patiently waited among thousands of books on all topics and from many eras."

How does the entry sequence work?

Guests arrive through an unassuming door from the street. The entry vestibule holds shelves packed with old volumes, with more stacks running along a wooden staircase that descends toward a second threshold. Small lamps sit squeezed between the spines and perched on top of the stacks, casting a moody glow that sets the tone before the bar reveals itself.

That staged descent is deliberate. "The old bookstore is encountered upon entering, as you descend the stairs, and it remains behind as you cross the first threshold, where the books transform into the skin that embraces the rooms," Em-Estudio said.

What does the basement look like?

Inside, dark herringbone flooring and burgundy-drenched surfaces extend the bookshop atmosphere into the bar proper. The larger walls are lined entirely with shelves, and the books are stacked with their spines facing in — so visitors see the warm beige of the pages, not the covers.

Cove lighting washes over the books, producing a sharp contrast with the otherwise shadowy room. Banquettes sit below the shelves, paired with circular marble tables for drinks.

The studio described the effect in its own words: "The pages of thousands of books resting on bookshelves that reach the ceiling shed their literal meaning, becoming a tapestry in shades of white that only time can give, bathed in a gradient of warm light."

Functional zones — the DJ booth, the bar and the bathrooms — are picked out in gold leaf and brass to draw the eye through the dark interior.

What hides behind the bookshelves?

A further lounge space is concealed behind another bookshelf, decorated with cans and objects meant to "evoke a grocery-store bar". This room swaps burgundy for green: gloss green covers the ceiling, and the colour reappears in a long marble table running through the centre of the room.

Dark wood Van Beuren chairs with yellow upholstery line both sides of that table, parallel to yet more walls of uplit books. A mirror across the back wall visually doubles the room, extending both the table and the shelving into the reflection.

Who is behind the project?

Em-Estudio was co-founded by architect Ivan Esqueda and interior designer Gala Sánchez-Renero, a husband-and-wife pair who also run individual practices. Their earlier collaborations include a holiday home on a steep hillside in Oaxaca, Mexico, built from coloured concrete chosen to blend into the rocky mountainside.

The project credits list architecture and interior design by Taller Ivan Esqueda and Gala Sánchez-Renero Estudio, with a design team of Berenice Galindo, Sergio Peláez and Fabián Cedillo. Miguel Ángel Márquez handled construction and installations, and Leonardo Cabrera carried out the carpentry — the craft behind all that shelving reaching to the ceiling.