Sfumato: errre taller cloaks a Guadalajara cube in mirror acrylic

A 6.40 × 6.40-meter cube in Guadalajara has effectively disappeared. Mexican practice errre taller wrapped the Cubo MEM, a sculptural landmark at the ITESO architecture complex, in 3 mm mirror-finish acrylic panels that dissolve the volume into its surroundings.

The pavilion, named Sfumato, won the inaugural Pabellón MEM competition. The brief asked a direct question: can an existing architectural structure become visually imperceptible while it keeps its full physical footprint? Errre taller answered with a reflective envelope that blurs the line between the built object and the trees, sky and ground around it.

What does the skin actually consist of?

The cladding is commodity material, worked for maximum yield. Standard 1.22 × 2.44-meter acrylic sheets combine with 76 cm cut sections to minimize waste and keep the reflective surface continuous. The studio's own description frames the ambition plainly: Sfumato, per the project text, "explores the paradox of architectural presence through disappearance."

Behind the mirror sits a layered assembly that practitioners will recognize from interior fit-out practice:

• 3 mm mirror-finish acrylic panels, fixed with double-sided tape and silicone
• A light-gauge metal stud-and-track framing system
• An interior wooden sub-structure
• The original PTR steel frame of the existing cube as primary support

No welding, no bespoke brackets. The entire mirror skin hangs off drywall-grade logic anchored to found structure, which keeps the intervention reversible and light.

How does the pavilion read as a monolith?

Continuity governs every detail. Continuous mirrored seams run across all elevations so no panel break interrupts the reflection. The design team — Humberto Espinoza, Jessica Corona and Fernando Hernández — placed a single access portal on the less prominent west face to preserve the illusion of an unbroken volume from the main approach.

Inside, the mirrored box opens upward. The interior functions as an open-air chamber for skyward observation, where shifting solar angles track the passage of time through changing shadow patterns on the enclosing walls. The cube that vanishes from outside becomes, from inside, an instrument for watching light move.

Why does this matter for practitioners?

Sfumato demonstrates that dematerialization does not demand expensive fabrication. Off-the-shelf acrylic, tape, silicone and stud framing produced a competition-winning mirage on an existing steel frame — a playbook any small studio can adapt for temporary installations with limited budgets.

As the founding winner of the Pabellón MEM competition, the project also sets the benchmark that future entrants at ITESO will be measured against.