![M.N.Roy Club by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_top.jpg)
M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy
A house once occupied by Mexican communist party founder M. N. Roy has been converted into a nightclub by French architects Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy.
![M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_06.jpg)
The private club, located in a run-down terrace in the Roma district of Mexico City, is named M.N.ROY in honour of its famous former resident.
![M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_28.jpg)
The outside of the house is left completely unaltered, concealing the nightclub where a textured timber pyramid envelops a double-height dance floor and DJ booth.
![M.N.Roy Club by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.Roy Club by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_15.jpg)
Rough timber blocks and glistening copper tiles cover the walls of other rooms, which are filled with wooden and leather furniture.
![M.N.Roy Club by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.Roy Club by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_04.jpg)
Corridor walls are clad with black basalt tiles that are dramatically lit from below to accentuate patterns carved into their surfaces.
![M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_08.jpg)
Behind the pyramid, black walls gradually step inwards to surround a dimly lit bar.
![M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_09.jpg)
Clubbers overlook the dance floor from a glass-fronted mezzanine.
![M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_16.jpg)
More stories about bars and nightclubs on Dezeen »
![M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_17.jpg)
More stories about projects in Mexico on Dezeen »
![M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_05.jpg)
Photography is by Ramiro Chaves.
![M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_03.jpg)
Here are some more details from Godefroy:
M.N.ROY club in Mexico City
Chic By Accident from the Franco Mexican architect Emmanuel Picault together with the French architect Ludwig Godefroy just completed a private club in Mexico City, called M.N.ROY.
![M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_02.jpg)
What s M.N.ROY ?
M.N.ROY is a project made as an open question, the one has for goal not to answer obviously what's actually the M.N.ROY.
![M.N.Roy Club by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.Roy Club by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_07.jpg)
In this way, the place can be perceived as an anti-project of what could be the commission of a private club in Mexico City, an more precisely in its Roma neighborhood.
![M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_13.jpg)
In fact Roma has been very important in the definition of the architectural identity of this space, located in a very dueling neighborhood, and responding on one hand to its past, the one of the high mexican bourgeoisie of Porfirio Diaz (Mexican dictator 1876 – 1911) time which abandoned the neighborhood after the 1985 earthquake; and the today's reality of a trendy urban area that Roma became.
![M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_25.jpg)
The club is the expression a high singular personality settling in the strong left over of its past time.
![M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_21.jpg)
According to this, where normally the renovation of the facade appears to be the starting point, the opposite was done: letting the facade untouched to increase the rupture between the original meaning of the house and the redefinition of it.
![M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_29.jpg)
We kept the house as a testimony of what it was, the house where Manabendra Nath Roy founded the first clandestine Mexican communist party.
![M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_24.jpg)
By not touching the facade we made paradoxically appealing the building from outside, stimulating the curiosity of the people passing by and seeing a large queue trying to enter an almost ruin house.
![M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_10.jpg)
Once inside, we made another step in a schizophrenic architectural way, introducing a new language, deeply belonging to the mexican culture, and nevertheless completely stranger to the Porfirio Diaz architecture time.
![M.N.Roy by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.Roy by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_11.jpg)
We used a pre-hispanic language reminiscence inside, in a participative way and not contemplative as could be a nostalgic neo pre-hispanic vision of it, introducing new materials (copper, leather, wood, volcanic stone), geometries (puuc art, maya arch, pyramids), and everything, down impressive generous volumes.
![M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.ROY by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_12.jpg)
M.N.ROY is the impossible mix of cultures, volumes, architectural styles, making possible an improbable modern space of melting pot.
![M.N.Roy by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.Roy by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_26.jpg)
Architects: Emmanuel Picault / Ludwig Godefroy
![M.N.Roy by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.Roy by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_19.jpg)
Creative team: Rodrigo Madrazo / Marco Margain / Claudio Margain / Rodrigo Diaz Frances / Paolo Montiel / Leon Larregui / Emmanuel Picault / Ludwig Godefroy
![M.N.Roy by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.Roy by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_20.jpg)
Industrial design: Laila salomon / Emmanuel Picault / Ludwig Godefroy
![M.N.Roy by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.Roy by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_31.gif)
Administration: Roberto Ayala
![M.N.Roy by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy M.N.Roy by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/07/dezeen_MN-Roy-Club-by-Emmanuel-Picault-and-Ludwig-Godefroy_30.gif)
Construction: Aaron Yepez / Jose Luis Madrigal / Carlos Tapia / Base por altura / Alonzo Mungia / Carlos Cortes / Jose Luis Iturbe / Rigoberto Martinez