Rockwell Group, the NYC-based architecture and design studio, has unveiled its design for key spaces at Museo Casa Kahlo, dedicated to the life and legacy of Frida Kahlo. Located inside Casa Roja, a historic family residence in Coyoacán, Mexico City, the museum features spaces that reveal Frida's private world, including her hidden basement studio and courtyard. This opening marks the most significant expansion of the Kahlo family's cultural footprint in decades.
© Rafael Gamo | Rockwell Group
In collaboration with Fundación Kahlo's Creative Director Ileen Gallagher and chief curator Adriana Miranda, Rockwell Group designed the visitor arrival experience, entry garden, and basement exhibition, recreating the room that served as Frida's hidden studio, never seen by the public. Filled with Frida's various collections, ephemera, and paints, it's an evocative focal point of the museum.
Very much still a family home in scale and intimacy, the museum allows guests to explore a variety of private spaces that contain authentic family artifacts alongside exhibition materials. Among them: a preserved kitchen that contains Frida's only known mural, the basement that served as Frida's private refuge and rooms dedicated to her social commitments and students. Digital elements extend the narrative throughout the museum.
Guests arrive at the Museo from the street entrance, as Frida and her family would have entered the house. The house driveway has been converted into an intimate corridor that leads to the courtyard. The hallway is set with a ticketing desk fabricated by artisans in Guadalajara, graphic panel wall signage by Pentagram, and a series of historical photographs of the building and La Ayuda, cueing the experience ahead.
The courtyard has been restored to an amalgamation of its configurations as various generations inhabited the house, welcoming and generous. Rockwell Group looked through many historical family photos in researching and recreating this space. A curved corner stair, where the family historically gathered and posed for numerous portraits, was lost in previous renovations and has been reintroduced to the garden design. A grapefruit tree featured in her mural sits in a hand-carved Cantera stone pot, and ceramic planters showcase regional styles from Oaxaca and Guadalajara.
After passing through a series of galleries and restored rooms of the house, guests descend a set of stairs into a never-before-seen recreation of Frida's hidden retreat. Here, Frida was free to write, paint, think, and sketch in a safe and intimate environment. The candlelit room includes a collection of objects, furniture, and textiles that belonged to Frida, including her dolls, paintings, and a bug collection, her desk and paints, as well as family stories told across generations with photographs and letters. Here, guests will feel Frida's spirit and her creative energy. Using Frida's original sketches and photographs of the butterflies and insects, the LAB at Rockwell Group designed an interactive replica of her microscope. This "easter egg" allows visitors to peer inside and observe the very specimens Frida would have studied.
Museo Casa Kahlo will be administered by Director Adán García Fajardo, who was formerly the Academic Director at the Museum of Memory and Tolerance in Mexico City. The chief curator of the museum is Adriana Miranda. Casa Roja has been transformed into a museum by architect Mariana Doet Zepeda Orozco, with experience and exhibit design by the New York-based Rockwell Group and graphic design and creative direction by Pentagram, and Ileen Gallagher.
More information:
Rockwell Group
www.rockwellgroup.com
