S7E01 Sense of Place with Reyes Ríos + Larraín Arquitectos

This first episode of 2026 of The Color Authority podcast features an in-depth conversation with Salvador Reyes and Josefina Larrain of the Mérida-based studio Reyes Rios + Larrain Arquitectos. The discussion centres on the studio’s philosophy of "living heritage," where they restore historic Yucatecan haciendas and manor houses not as static monuments, but as functional, contemporary spaces that preserve ancestral knowledge and memory.

Design Studio based in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico, founded by architect Salvador Reyes Ríos and Josefina Larraín Lagos. Since 2001, they have equally devoted themselves to contemporary architectural design and restoration of old haciendas, manor houses, buildings, and heritage sites, adapting them for new, compatible uses. A local and modern sensibility, combined with a comprehensive approach to architecture, interior design, furniture, landscaping, and construction coordination, characterizes their new buildings and restoration/reuse projects. Other contributions to Mexican architecture include the revival and reinterpretation of local materials and techniques, such as Chukum-based mortar and structural concrete blended with red earth known as kancab. Reyes Ríos + Larraín are also recognized for creating an original architectural language that has shaped the contemporary identity of Yucatán’s built environment, as well as the ongoing experimentation with local materials and processes. Their work has been featured in specialized books and magazines across the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America, earning both national acclaim and international visibility. The book Place, Matter, and Belonging, published in two editions by Arquine in 2017, is the first monograph dedicated to their body of work. The studio is currently designing projects in Mexico, United States and Dominican Republic.

Transcript

Judith van Vliet: Podcast listeners to the Color Authority podcast season seven. Yes, this is the very first episode for 2026. I hope you all had wonderful holidays and are ready to start off with a colorful 2026. Today I'm going to be talking to Reyes Rios Lorraine Architects, a design studio based in Merida, Yucatan in Mexico. And the studio was founded by the architect Salvador Reyes Rios and Josefina Larrain Lagos. Now, since 2001, they have equally devoted themselves to contemporary architectural design and restoration of old haciendas, manor houses, buildings and heritage sites, adapting them for new compatible uses. A local and modern sensibility combined with this very comprehensive approach to architecture, interior design, furniture, landscaping and construction coordination characterizes their new buildings and restoration. Their work has been featured in specialized books and magazines across the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Let's hear what Salvador and Josefina want to share with the Color Authority podcast today. Well, this is a special episode because it's the first one in January of 2026 and it is gray and not there's no sun here in Madrid. So we're going to talk to Mexico. So welcome to the very first podcast of the Color Authority, Josefina in Salvador. How are you?

Salvador Reyes : Thank you very much. Happy New Year for you and for everyone listening to us here in the Yucatan. It's not sunny today. Also, I may say, in the Mayan culture that belongs of the area of Mexico where we live, there is a knowledge that recognizes Every the first 12 days of the year are supposed that will represent the weather for the rest of the year. Yeah, the name is called Cabano a Las. So it is amazing to record every day from starting January 1st when you see that it's cloudy and a little bit cold. So it means that the January of next year is going to be like that and then the same in February. Normally it's windy. Those days are also a bit cloudy, more sunny. And it's amazing to see that it really represents the weather behavior during the first to 12 of the year. I mean, but that's just a cultural capital.

Judith van Vliet: No, but I think a lot of people obviously heard of the Maya and the Mayan culture, but I mean, not a lot of people have been to Yucatan or have been to Merida where you guys are based in your beautiful home that I had the honor to visit, which has been an inspiration for all the homes that I'm now looking for, I can already tell you. But now that you're saying today's the 12th of January, because we're recording the podcast and I will go live later this month. Today is also my second year of anniversary living in Spain. So it's.

Josefina Larrain: Congratulations, congratulations. And by the way, it's also my birthday.

Salvador Reyes : Yes, Birthday, My anniversary.

Josefina Larrain: Thank you. Thank you. It's the true day I was born. Born because all my register, my passport says I was born on the 13th, but I was actually born on the 12th. Something that happens in South America, that is, they mix up the dates and it's not so important to correct it. So you live with that little mistake all your life. And it's fine because I celebrate two days, the 12th and the 13th.

Judith van Vliet: That's good. Congratulations, Felicia.

Josefina Larrain: Gracias.

Judith van Vliet: So there is. I've been to your place, as I've already just heard. I've been to Yucatan for the very first time last year. And it's a beautiful place. And I did an article even on manera of obviously everything that represents color wise in Yucatan, in the area, the materials. But I think one of the most beautiful things was the very particular colors. But before we dive into what is Yucatan color schemes, what is color to Yucatan personally to you as individually, but also for you as a studio?

Josefina Larrain: What kind of. For us is. It's a medium to. It's a tool, a vehicle to evoke emotions, to evoke inner space, emotions, sentiments. So it's a way to connect people with their well being. And every space wants to have a different feeling, different feeling according to the use or the way the person. What the person needs. So it's. It's a. Evokes emotions. And humans need to be connected to their sentiments and emotions through color.

Salvador Reyes : Yes, in. In the practical way. Color is absolutely a tool to represent even a place, the geography to evoke emotions and translate that reality into specific environments, design environments and specific touches for the spaces we design. So color is a powerful tool. I mean, I may say.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, your studio has become really synonymous to everything that is the contemporary identity of Yucatan. What was. But of course, your studio has been existing for quite a few years. What was the original vision when you founded Reyes Rios and Lorraine in 2001? And how has it evolved? You know, just obviously many things happened in those years. But the original idea to where you are today as a studio, the original.

Salvador Reyes : Idea was to stay Josefina night together. Because we met in the Yucatan.

Josefina Larrain: That's right. To work together realized this vision. Salo being an architect and me having worked on a first patrimonial building, architectural building, a valuable building.

Salvador Reyes : So it is important to mention that we both, we were not originally from the Yucatan. Josefina was Born in. In the South America, in Chile. And I'm from Mexico City. So for us, staying in the Yucatan is. It was like staying in a completely different world from our backgrounds. Even for Mexicans, the Yucatan is like another country within the country. And the vision was how can we work together doing what we love to do. And specifically because we identified the opportunity of doing a lot with the heritage from the historic place which the Yucatan. It is not only from the Mayan epoch, from the Spaniards, when they came to the Yucatan. And the blend, I may say the syncretic between both the Mayan and the European culture. And how it came out with the architecture from the 16th to the 19th century. Which is very, very special. Different from the rest of what usually was done before. And what is done at that time in Europe. So we wanted to preserve that heritage in a way to trans. To keep the heritage useful. Because the main challenge is how can you preserve the heritage? And speaking in terms of architecture, the only way is to keep alive. I mean, keep in use.

Josefina Larrain: And curiously, Salvador had arrived to Yucatan for a specific project. And I was doing what they were doing. I had already inter. Remodeled a machine house of a hacienda with the idea to live in it. So I was turning a factory into a living space. And they were using the same hacienda buildings in turning them into hotels into. Orientality hospitality. Exactly. So they. We. We would experience in peril the situation of transforming patrimonial. And looking for a way to make it feasible to live in. And to make it. To make it also possible. Because it's the big buildings, big structures. And you have to make it in a way rational. Rational. So in that process, we realized that maybe the hacienda buildings were a bit too large to make. To continue working on that ground on our own. But we could start with downtown of the cities. I mean, not only Merida, this could be done in many cities that have been abandoned. And many, many buildings downtown had been left behind by their original owners. And let to destruction. I mean, almost destruction, but not. It is not the word I wanted to say.

Judith van Vliet: They went to ruins, right? So they were.

Josefina Larrain: They were in a state of ruin. And to make them habitable again and create also city. We wanted to create a community. So that's a bit where we started. And learn to learn from these buildings. To do architecture, modern architecture in that same place. To do those both things at the same time. To move to. Into. To restore the patrimonial. And at the same time take the language that was absolute. That you could abstract from it and to turn it into modern architecture.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, so you're really maintaining the soul of a place, the soul and its heart. And you're just elevating the emotions that it already has and all the beautiful history that especially Mexico has. But also obviously the Yucatan architecture.

Salvador Reyes : That's the challenge indeed. How can you do something, to add something, to transform something that is pre existing and has some specific values that you must to identify first before going on. But at the same time you, you must understand the context at the time those buildings were built and what was the purpose behind the construction of those buildings. And that's on one hand that we call the historic data, the documentation that comes from the history and the building. Well, it's from the history basically. In the other hand, what we have is the information that the building itself will provide to you in order to understand how, how it was built, the materiality that is part of the building. Because all of that enclose, I mean all of that represents or keep knowledge, a way of leaving to see the reality, the way the knowledge was translated into techniques and technologies at that time that represents the spirit of that time. And how can we connect that spirit that has value? Because basically it's both memory and knowledge to pass it to the current generations and to pass it for the future generations. So that's why we try to identify the spirit of the building, spirit of the place, in order to build a new identity from that without erasing or losing or blurring the preexisting one. Because we strongly believe this is irritated because it has value and must be passed to the next generations.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, no, I fully agree and I think definitely right now we're living in a times where a lot of things are just destroyed or completely taken down to build something completely new and contemporary. And I understand that it's for trend wise, it's interesting, but we're also destroying a lot of beauty and a lot of tradition. But you, you both have, when I just look at your, your backgrounds, you have obviously Chile, there's a part of Germany, there's obviously Mexico. There is a part where you've always been also in New York. And now it's Yucatan. I mean you could not. I mean it's completely different places, different ways of doing architecture, different design languages. How has all of this created the design language that you have now?

Josefina Larrain: Well, being in such different worlds, the contrast is so large. Coming from New York City into coming to my first appearance here in Yucatan was in a little town, a little hacienda. Where I started the hacienda, restoring the machine house. It's so different. I mean, from high technological construction to carving out the stone from the rock from the backyard and building a building. I mean, that's such a different world. That makes it more. You appreciate it much more. You have a very fresh vision. People here always said, why are you interested in that? I said, well, it's fantastic. I mean, humans can do buildings from what they. In their surroundings, build them by hand. And every. All the hands are visible all over. That was very different from Europe and even the expectation of architecture in Europe and in United States, not Chile. Chile was. I spent very little time there and I have very little memory of what that my memories are more family humans, not so much buildings, but the high contrast of these very flat, permanent surfaces and eternal surfaces that are now being produced with technology to the very. And surfaces that are changing all the time, that are. That are. They have a change of look and feeling all the time, and they never repeat. They're always singular pieces.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, true. I think every. Every place we touch and every place we visit brings something in our journey as. As designers and as architects, of course. I mean, I for sure took a lot of things from Yucatan back to. Back to Spain, but I think one of the things that I remember, we did the workshop first in Monterrey and then we went to Stud de Mexico. Then I came to Merida, and I remember Eugenia Lorenzo from Obera Blanca already telling me, it's going to be different.

Josefina Larrain: You're.

Judith van Vliet: I mean, going to be different. Like everything is going to be natural. And I was like, okay, so linen and wool and. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Wait. So, indeed, I mean, I remember everything, all the materials that you guys broug up, because you are pioneers in reviving materials that are not just Yucateco, but also materials generally from that grow in Mexico and are so interesting, like Chum Cancap, of course. Maybe also you can explain the audience what those materials are, because I think outside Mexico they have no idea what these materials are. But. And then maybe perhaps tell us a little bit what new material explorations are inspiring your work, your work today. I mean, I know you work a lot with Chukum and Kankap, but there's more that I think are being again reborn into what is now architecture.

Salvador Reyes : Yeah. This idea of preserving heritage from the perspective we have that trying to pass the knowledge from the previous generations to the next ones. It's the same purpose that we wanted to explore at the moment we know about old Techniques and materials from different parts of Mexico. Well, the different parts of the places we interact with at the moment we design. And it's basically a matter of observation. Sensible observation is not only to look at, but really put attention on which materials are always present in buildings, in all buildings on a specific site, for instance. And in that way you can identify most of the time the materials that were used so often because they mean something in terms of the practical. The practical use because those materials are resistant, because those material has a specific property, or because those materials are easy to apply. And then we try to understand the properties of those materials in a way to keep the essence of those properties, to recreate the original techniques in. I mean, the original techniques in other epochs from the after 20th century. All techniques are basically handicraft, very handmade. That takes a lot of time. The perception of time, of course, has evolved in the 20th century. And now we are in the high speed sense of time to make it feasible to translate those techniques to the modern techniques and the modern sense of time without losing the essence of the properties of those materials, like the color, like in the case of the Chukum. It's a natural sealant that you extract from the bark of an endemic tree of a species that also exists in other parts of the world. Now we know because we have received emailings from different parts of the world, but it's the latest one was people from Brazil that identified the same species in Brazil. And they really wanted to know about the technique that we recreated using modern materials like cement instead of white cement, instead of the limes, regular lime. Because they really wanted to do the same in that part of the world in South America, because it recognizes the practical. Not only the practical, but the romantic. The romantic sense of that. Because you are interacting with materials that are organic at the same time, Materials that aging in a different way, because in a natural way, that acquire patina in an novel way. I mean, in terms of visual perception. And that's it? No, I don't want to speak so much.

Judith van Vliet: So, Josefina, Josefina, tell us what Kungkap is and how you can color it even with natural pigments. Because that's the interesting part. Of what? Of all these materials. Right.

Josefina Larrain: Well, Kankap, it's another one of these is the original finishes from this area that was used and we have reused it in modern architecture. It's red earth, high oxide content earth that we put into concrete. And it will transfer the strong red color and gives it a very soft feel to the wall. I mean, a concrete wallet is very hard, and that's gray. And that will become very different, will become softer and reddish and something one more contemporary, too. So it's using a material that's readily available in the Yucatan and introducing into modern architecture. It's not the way it used to be used. The Mayans, or before we started using it into concrete, used it as a painting, as a sealant. So they used it to it for consolidating walls that are starting to debris. Because the calcium high content wall only. Only are built with calviva lime, lime, limestone, lime. So the lime will eventually start falling apart. So you can put a veil of kankap of the red or over the lime, and it will give it more life. It will maintain or increase the lifespan of that wall, of that finish.

Judith van Vliet: And it gives it warmth because it's this reddish earth tone, which immediately gives more warmth than anything that is gray. Of course.

Josefina Larrain: Yeah, exactly. And we jumped from that specific recipe of kankap of the red earth into other. Is the earth's other color. So we can introduce brown earth into a finish and introduce it into stucco finishes. And what we started doing with chukun, then we started doing with earth. And you can create a tremendous large palette just in those shades of color of the earth. Earth colors, natural earth colors, which here.

Judith van Vliet: In Europe, we would use micro cement, you know, because we don't have obviously. I mean, we have kal, we have limestone, but yeah, we don't have that natural way of perhaps adding pigment. Or maybe we haven't explored it yet. Because I'm sure also in Europe, there's many ways to explore how we create finishes. And when we. When I. I mean, again, about Yucatan and the color, I mean, it's just any color imaginable is visible, but Yucatan, that's why the color is both emotional and it's historical. It obviously has those both elements to words that we've continued to. To mention. What colors and finishes do you see that they're defining? May perhaps the Yucatan Peninsula, but perhaps are colors that you start to see or are also, as you said, because you guys are not working only in Mexico, you work in more parts in the world. So are you seeing slowly that these colors from the Yucatan peninsula and material are slowing being part of global design conversations?

Josefina Larrain: Well, definitely. Chukun is a big, big trend all over the world. We get calls from England, and I can see in Greece seeing Australia, from Australia, Brazil. So chukon has turned into. It's turned into a large trend. It's frightening. Me, it's too much. It's overwhelming. But it's what they're looking for. It's a very acceptable, easy color, fresh. That comes actually from the rock of the Yucatan. The mixture of the ground rock that you use to make jukun, also with the resin of that tree, creates this beige, mottled, earthy, very soft and very irregular color.

Salvador Reyes : Yeah.

Josefina Larrain: And that is now being recreated by companies like Comex and many others. Many others. Many other companies that are creating an acrylic version or a synthetic version of that. And it doesn't look the same.

Judith van Vliet: No, of course not.

Josefina Larrain: You can perceive it immediately that it's not made with chicken, with the resin, or with the. The ground rock or with the. The lime. No, you have to get close to those materials in order to get the effect that we. We have. Appreciate it all.

Salvador Reyes : The chukum represents actually a lot, the architecture, the contemporary architecture of the Yucatan, but also became like a color that represents the Mexican architecture today. And it is because we think. I think because people is really trying to keep connected to the roots of their place. Because people is now looking more and more for something that can represent the place they live. They wanted to set aside its own identity in the middle of this globalization, but also as part of the possibilities of the current epoch, that we can travel everywhere and we can experience a lot of places in the world at the very end. Thanks. That we have that many people is also looking for what really belongs to them or what they think represents them at the moment at the place they are living. So speaking about that, the colors of the Yucatan are definitely the colors associated to the earth. And the earth. I mean, Katrina is right. They're the limestone, basically, because we have very. I mean, the layer of soil in the Yucatan is really thin. Because the Yucatan was created by the impact of the meteorite in the dinosaurs epoch.

Josefina Larrain: No, when we talk about Earth, we're talking about rock.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, yeah, exactly. People think about sands, but no, I mean, Yucatan has one of the most harsh environments, I think, in the whole country of Mexico, yet it produces beautiful natural materials. Even enquen, for example, which we know as sisal, for example, which is also having a rebirth in many ways. So it's interesting. It's super harsh, it's super humid, it is hot. But it still gives beautiful gifts in Yucatan.

Josefina Larrain: But there's one more thing about color. I think these colors have come up in architecture and have come up lately. It's not in a traditional way of coating your house. I mean, it's not a Traditional way of. You won't. You would not have seen massively massive use of chukwum any on any surface. But humid areas. The pool, the canals, irrigation canals. The Spanish used it for their irrigation canals.

Salvador Reyes : And the cistern.

Josefina Larrain: And the cisterns, the mines for the cisterns. And now we're using it for architecture, for big buildings, for big structures. And they're visible. What would be visible in Yucatan is color oxides. Red oxide, yellow oxide, also blue. It's a very special blue in this region. We have used these colors for a long time. And we now are trying to get it back into architecture. Not as bright as it used to be, but instead of having it applied as paints, Integrating these colors into stucco, we were looking. Going back to oxides, natural pigments from the ground. And getting. Taking them back into the surface of buildings.

Salvador Reyes : But what Josefina says is very important. I omitted to say that the bright colors or the strong colors. Also belongs to the spirit of the Yucatan. Because we. We are. We have a lot of. A very strong sunlight. Yeah, the year is plenty of sunlight, mostly of the year. I mean, we have a short winter, which is only two months and a half. But actually would be the summer for anyone else in I. I probably in the world. But. But for instance, white color that is normally associated to a name that Merida had. Merida is the capital of the Yucatan. Used to be called the white City. And people, even me coming from Mexico City, I always thought that the name was because the city was completely painted in white. But the truth is that the white color is pro. It's not. It's not a color that belongs to the Yucatan. Because we have a sunlight so strong that the white color really blinds you.

Judith van Vliet: It reflects too much.

Salvador Reyes : Yes. The white city came as a name from another historical reasons. Speaking about the Spaniards, basically in opposition. The skin color of the Spaniards in opposite to the huge Mayan population. So as Katrina said, this color reacts in a very, I may say, crazy way with the sunlight. The yellow, the yellow oxide, the blue, the red, of course. No.

Josefina Larrain: And so the. We had in the first epoch in the colonial period, these very strong colors. And During Porphyrian period, 19, late 19th century, we turned the palette towards pastel colors like pistachio, light blues, pinkish, very light pinks. But all pastel. Yep. Yeah.

Judith van Vliet: The European influence from the French.

Josefina Larrain: Exactly. The French influence promoted very much from the government.

Salvador Reyes : For instance, we have never used white for the exterior of the architecture. We do for the interiors, of course, in specific projects. But white is not our first pick, because at least in the Yucatan, because.

Judith van Vliet: It'S written when, always when I speak about white. Because in the end, it is still a favorite color of many architects. But white is to be taken so much more carefully than any other color, just like black, because of energy, because of the sun, because of light, because of absorption. It is color that too easily is applied. Also here in Europe, when we look at your preservation, but also innovation, new techniques, and the traditional techniques that you've been talking about, how, where do you find that balance? Because your commitment as a studio is really about local ancestral processes and preserving cultural heritage and identity. But then, of course, we are living in 2026. You know, there's a lot of new technologies. There's indeed, just like you said, there's not a lot of. Of kankap. There's not a lot of chukum, because it's a natural material. You know, it's. It's having, you know, you need to respect nature's production. How do you balance that with obviously, what's happening in the world also and with your current work in preservation?

Salvador Reyes : That's. That's a very good question indeed. The preservation goal is just half of the commitment we impose ourselves as a studio. The other half is to bring it and translate it into the contemporary uses, contemporary techniques. So we can really still achieving the needs of practical needs in a way that we can even can come out with a more efficient product. In terms of architecture and interior design, I mean, architecture that can reduce the need of maintenance, that can reduce the need of energy. Because we always design not only from the materiality perspective, but also from the spatial perspective. I mean, the typology of the old haciendas and houses in the Yucatan, that how the arrangement of the spaces has to be done even from the Mayan epoch, in order to reduce the impact of this harsh weather and taking advantage of the wind and the crust, translated into a real cross ventilation, but also spaces, transitional spaces that reduce the direct impact of the sun to the facades, like corridors or loggias. And in that way we can even speak with the clients. And also this is a process of sensibilation, not only with the builders, but it's also, of course, with the clients, because the clients, they have to be aware that they will receive something that will have different properties or different qualities from the regular construction. And it requires a specific training for the builders and a specific pick of the handicraft mens, the masons and whatever. But always what we offer the clients is you will get an architectural product that will work, that will last, that will be efficient in terms of energy, that the impact with the site in that way is going to be feasible. But we also know and recognize that we need to combine it with the semi industrial or industrial materials in a way to get a kind of combo that will keep the best of both. Because we always recognize the technology, the current technologies, and we try to take advantage of that. At the same time, we're not like people that are stuck on the past. No, we try to learn from the past, always looking to the future.

Judith van Vliet: Sustainability also for you, your studio is very important because I love how you. So when you design, you make sure that there's different airflows through the house because of the windy climate. But it's very hot and humid, so people don't need to use air conditioning, for example, and they can warm and cool the house in a very easy way. That I think now we're starting to see some applications here in Europe. But this is something that you two have been applying since so many years. Because sustainability also for you is a side topic perhaps to preservation, but it's connected. Right.

Josefina Larrain: You know, Kirsty, that is taught by the old buildings where there were no glasses and no energy, no air conditionings, for example. And these buildings are exposed to very high heat. So Yucatan is still a place where energy is very, very expensive. So every building, we build new building, we have to orient it in the right direction and make sure that we have good cross ventilation and protection from the sun. Otherwise it becomes very, very difficult to live in these houses. Because the most cheap construction material, like block, concrete block or concrete roofs with beams and bovedy like these are like building blocks between the beams.

Salvador Reyes : Cement blocks.

Josefina Larrain: Cement blocks those conduct. They're heat conductive.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah.

Josefina Larrain: So we, we have tried to bring in other material that are not so heat and conductive, like cellular concrete. But it's very expensive.

Salvador Reyes : Yeah.

Josefina Larrain: So most, most construction or builders or clients decide to go stick to the traditional elements. And we have to be even more, more careful with the orientation and the sun exposure, ensure cross ventilation and help those exposed walls with double walls sometimes and air within the walls. Or with only using those walls with special materials like less heat conductive materials.

Salvador Reyes : Yeah, yeah. That's why for instance, we test or we made the experiment to add the concave earth to the concrete because we wanted to achieve two goals. The first one was to do a concrete that only can be done in the Yucatana that will represent the Yucatan. And second, because we wanted to turn the properties of the concrete associated as an excellent heat conductor, but also cold, visually cold material transform it into the opposite, a material that has better heat isolation properties. And it came to be also much warmer material. Visually. I think that example can show the way we try to, we operate on these ideas.

Judith van Vliet: I think also what I like about your work when I look at your portfolio is obviously you can see the soul has been kept in all these places that you've reformed. But you can also definitely see the craftsmanship because you work with artisans, you work with local craftsmanships, the builders, as you said. And if you work with local builders, they are more aware of certain materials and how they work and how they, how they need to be applied. How do you work with these, how do you make sure these relationships are obviously kept and maintained? Because again, in this world where everything needs to be quicker and faster and everything, as you just said, sometimes artisan and crafts more expensive than just, you know, getting a concrete from anywhere in the world. How do you think that that actually is giving an additional value to your work and also to what you design?

Josefina Larrain: Well, I, I think that craft never can be as speedy as the issue. I mean, it cannot be done in a very high speed. So we have to talk further with clients and with the contractor from the beginning that they should understand that it's very important to give time to the craft part. Whether it's the stone carving, whether it's the hand troweled finish, which has to come out in a very good way, a finish. I mean, it has to feel perfect at the end. It has to feel right. It doesn't, cannot, you cannot feel like it's done crooked and it's not perfect. It can be done perfect and it has to be done perfect. And I'm not meaning that it has to be completely. It needs to be. You can feel that it feels right, that you can feel it. And that takes time. So sometimes we have to redo walls. And it's very important that everybody involved understands that we have to give the craft part the time it needs. We supervise the construction from the beginning to the end, so they know, they accept us. Even the contractor has to accept that we are the ones judging the work, especially the finishers. When we don't get involved in what is the technical part within the walls or we, we see and we are watching it. But when it comes down to the artisan finishes and the little details that are not, that are really have been done by, by special design and color and we have to do the color over and over till it comes out right. It takes time and there's nowhere to get around it. But at the end, the product is so satisfying for everybody because even the contractor said, wow, this is something very special. It's something unique and feels very satisfied as well as the client, because he feels like something very handmade is given to over to him.

Judith van Vliet: And with a lot of love and.

Josefina Larrain: Lot of love, you can see the love behind the place.

Salvador Reyes : I may say it's unique because you can feel that was made by humans. And the way every day people that lives in this kind of spaces or this kind of architecture, with this materiality, it is amazing every time we speak with clients, after some time or even the days after we deliver the building, it is amazing to listen not only from them, from these guests, friends that stay at the places or experience the buildings, saying that it's surprising for them that every day they discover something different. I mean, the way the light is. Not only the way the light is shading a wall, but something that connects in a different way about the column that was. That has a stone strip applied in the connection between this, the roof and the column itself. Because it's what you cannot perceive at the first time. That's why Josefina says feeling. Because the feeling is what you can feel without not really conscious. That will make you to explain why do you feel the way you feel. And in that way, color works very well. No? I mean, it's like a medium tool for that.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah. No, no. Color is one of the first things that we see and it's emotion. Just like most of your projects. You also documented your first decades of work in place, matter and belonging. If you would do a second monograph published in this year, what new chapter would define it?

Salvador Reyes : That's an excellent question. Thank you for asking that because, well.

Josefina Larrain: We have actually been thinking and working and our minds have been preoccupied with this new challenge. And it has to do with what we observe that is needed. We need to go back to creating communities. Tighten communities. Tighten communities has a lot to do with this urban design and how you approach cities and how you approach your design towards the street, to the public area.

Salvador Reyes : The chapter will be more focused. Focused on the social and community spaces. Absolutely. Because what we feel, we know we need is to scale this from the private or the isolated commissions for specific buildings and our specific people to expand it to the public space. We have. We have had the privilege of designing two public spaces. One public building, which is the Palacio de la Musica, the building which is in the heart of Merida. And also we designed a public square, the main square, for a city of 160,000 people in Veracruz. And we discover that the challenges from that scale requires to maximize and to maximize the arguments that we need to use to convince a lot of people and to give some sort of sensibilization for all the actors. That path some incidents on the public space, because we really want to share our knowledge and the experience we have developed in all this year, because actually, our firm has been established for 26 years now, and we really want to provide as much, I mean, to the largest amount of people to experience the quality of the space that was designed according to these principles.

Josefina Larrain: We feel that the impact that we have created is still reduced to a very private, personal space. We could transfer this impact not only of materials, of. But more of a way of living towards the city, towards communal spaces that.

Salvador Reyes : You connect with people in the public space the way that you can.

Josefina Larrain: The belonging, the. Even the material can take part of that. It can be all transferred into a more communal, public place. It would be a different chapter that it complements in a different direction, Taking those three elements, but making it more public, accessible for everybody, that people can participate in it and get involved and feel it and maybe take them to their homes.

Judith van Vliet: I think especially in places like Merida, where gentrification is obviously a big issue, because that's how you take apart communities, by gentrifying the city centers. You know, even for Yucatecos, living in Nevida is getting more and more expensive. So creating communities. And I think everybody would love to live in the beautiful hacienda that has been reformed, especially with all its tradition and its magic. No, it has a magic and its soul. But, yeah, I would be curious to read that monograph, for sure.

Salvador Reyes : Yeah.

Josefina Larrain: Yeah.

Salvador Reyes : Thank you for. For the question. Because it's. It's a question that move us to reflect, deeper reflection and. And that's what we really want to achieve for the next years to come.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, Reflection. Yeah. And that people reflect on your work.

Josefina Larrain: Yeah, exactly.

Judith van Vliet: When I ask you this last question that I've been asking throughout my last year is it's about power that you have, and you definitely have multiple powers. I think that's very clear through this podcast. But what would be your color power?

Josefina Larrain: Well, we also were thinking about this color, how color is part of our architecture. But curiously, it's not a color. It's not a specific. It's. The color power consists very much in understanding the environment where we do architecture, in understanding the feeling, the place the materials, the geographic situation influences very much the color. The color in Yucatan looks very different because of its light and its surrounding. I mean, the brightness of the light makes a color that looks in the north some one way here completely different and maybe out of place. So the color surges from the same place where we do architecture, it comes out of the environment and sometimes it's found in its material, original material. Sometimes it's the light that dictates the color. So we are not married to a specific color. We don't have a color palette that we know the color surges from its.

Salvador Reyes : Place of where the architecture is born, the color power. In our case, it's probably. I would define it. It's a way to the color represent. We want the color to represent or to catch or to expose the spirit of a place. And that's it, basically.

Judith van Vliet: Well, those are definitely new answers from my previous podcast, so that's always good. Thank you both so much for this very early for you guys podcast in Mexico and I hope to see you somewhere this year again.

Josefina Larrain: Oh, we're looking forward to it, Judith. And thank you so much for this interview.

Salvador Reyes : Yes, thank you. And thank you. All the experiences we have had with you in the past year speaking about color, sharing, the approaching, the color within your eyes and the way you have.

Josefina Larrain: Experienced too and enjoy very much your reflections. Your reflections are wonderful and very deep. Thank you very much, Judith. Thank you.

Salvador Reyes : Thank you very much.

Judith van Vliet: I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Color Authority podcast. Next month we'll be talking to a new guest again on everything that is shaping 2026 and color. See you back very, very soon and have a colorful rest of your day.