An Elegant Dining Room in Mexico City

In the midst of Mexico City’s ever-changing landscape, a time-honored residential model endures: the high-rise. It is in such a building that David Levy—owner of the furniture maker Flexform’s New York showroom and the head of the Mexico-based development firm Piso 18—has designed an apartment for an art-collecting couple with two grown children and six grandchildren.

"The clients particularly love Italian design," says Levy, who established a European connection in the area most resembling a formal space, the dining room. "We tried to incorporate their love of European finishes and style into their casual yet still quite elegant living environment."

Located just off the entrance to the apartment and separated by a floating Calacatta-marble wall, the room is spare, save for a substantial white-marble-topped Flexform table surrounded by a dozen of Antonio Citterio’s solid-walnut Morgan chairs, designed for the Bulgari Hotel in London. Levy added a custom black-lacquered Italian sideboard to hold tableware.

Levy sheathed the room in whitewashed pine, giving the illusion of more light, and clad the fireplace wall, which divides the room from the living room bar, in matte marble. A deep, low-slung recess in the fireplace offers a peek into the rooms beyond—allowing the space to be at once separated from and connected to them. Similarly, it can expand and contract as the family’s needs vary. "The couple can entertain their large family in the space, yet it still feels intimate enough to relax in at home after a long day," says Levy, who adds that they use the room for "enjoying company, family reunions, casual relaxing, viewing the city, and fun."

With its generous band of horizontal windows, the room looks down to the Piso 18–designed common area for the building’s residents, with walkways and children’s play areas. Beyond is a view of the bustling city, where cranes abound and a brand new batch of high-rises slowly ascends as a silent symbol of progress.