Apartment buildings and multifamily housing
By Arkham Projects · Published on · Data reviewed on
Arkham Projects has designed apartment buildings and multifamily housing in Mérida and Puerto Cancún, Mexico, according to its portfolio, including Ment (Mérida, 2024, built), winner in Residential Architecture – Multi Unit at the 2025 Architecture MasterPrize, and Blas, with 37,583.18 m² of built area, under construction as of August 2026. From Mérida, it designs vertical buildings in any Mexican city.
In an apartment building, Arkham Projects designs with a business mindset: sellable area, absorption, a target cost per square meter and an identity that cannot be copied. The table brings together the apartment buildings and multifamily housing projects in its portfolio, with the data from each project page.
Which apartment buildings has Arkham Projects designed?
| Project | Location | Year | Area (m²) | Status | Verified awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltia | Mérida (Montes de Amé) | 2024 | 20,150 (built area) | Built | — |
| Ment | Mérida | 2024 | 3,411.73 (built area) | Built | |
| Blas | Cancún (Puerto Cancún) | 2022 | 37,583.18 (built area) | Under construction | |
| Ophelia | Tulum | 2022 | 12,815.73 (built area) | Built | |
| Antaal | Cancún (Puerto Cancún) | 2021 | 24,000 (built area) | Built | — |
| Montebello 10 | Mérida (Montebello) | 2021 | 6,612.21 (built area) | Built | — |
| Sonata | Mérida (Gonzalo Guerrero) | 2018 | 536 | Built |
|
Features that recur across the portfolio
Greenery concentrated in a shared garden that organizes the complex: between Antaal's two towers, and ten floors up, centered on a tree, at Baltia.
Terraces as part of each home: with a barbecue grill in every unit at Antaal, and stepped terraces at Blas.
A direct relationship with the Caribbean Sea in Puerto Cancún: direct sea access at Blas, and views of the sea and the mangrove at Antaal.
Amenities as a design decision: their placement is one of the design decisions highlighted at Ment, and Baltia adds a vegetable garden to its amenities.
What Arkham considers when designing apartment buildings
- Sellable area and efficiency: we analyze the site's morphology, circulation, unit depth and phasing before drawing the first façade. A design decision can add sellable square meters and remove operating costs.
- Differentiation that sells: we look for what makes the site, the market or the project unique and turn it into the sales argument. What cannot be copied sells better.
- Target cost: we design around a target cost per square meter and decide where it is worth investing and where it is not. Good architecture does not mean expensive materials.
- Maintenance: at Baltia, concentrating the greenery in one large shared garden instead of private planters centralized maintenance and created a unique amenity.
- Sales phasing: at Antaal, splitting the project into two towers around a central garden opened the possibility of selling in two stages.
- Technical coordination: we coordinate with the developer's structural and MEP engineers and with their builder.
The projects, one by one
BaltiaApartment building · Mérida (Montes de Amé) · 2024
Photo: Manolo Solís
MentApartment building · Mérida · 2024
Photo: Zaickz Moz / Manolo Solís
BlasApartment building · Cancún (Puerto Cancún) · 2022
OpheliaApartment building · Tulum · 2022
Photo: Manolo Solís
AntaalApartment building · Cancún (Puerto Cancún) · 2021
Photo: Wacho Espinosa
Montebello 10Apartment building · Mérida (Montebello) · 2021
Photo: Manolo Solís
SonataFour-home cluster · Mérida (Gonzalo Guerrero) · 2018
General information with an official source; not legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
What is the minimum project size?
We design vertical buildings from 5,000 m² of built area and master plans from 10 hectares. Smaller projects are evaluated case by case in the first conversation.
How long does the design process take?
A schematic design (anteproyecto) is presented in 8 to 12 weeks. The complete construction documents (proyecto ejecutivo) depend on the scale and complexity; typically between 8 and 10 months.
Does an apartment building in Yucatán have to be a condominium?
When its units are individually owned and its common areas jointly owned, an apartment building in Yucatán is a private real estate development subject to the condominium regime, under the state's Real Estate Developments Law. Yucatán's 2014 condominium law allows the regime to be established while the building is still in the design stage or under construction.
Does an apartment building have to dedicate land to the municipality in Yucatán?
Not if it is in an urbanized zone. In Yucatán, private vertical developments located in urbanized zones, as defined by the applicable land-use plan, are exempt from dedicating land to the municipality (áreas de cesión), under Article 16 of the state's Real Estate Developments Law, amended in January 2024. Private horizontal developments dedicate 7% of their gross area.
Sources
- Ley de Desarrollos Inmobiliarios del Estado de Yucatán, art. 2, fr. IX (Congreso del Estado de Yucatán) — In Yucatán, a private real estate development is a property with individually owned units and jointly owned common areas, subject to the condominium regime. (accessed on September 28, 2026)
- Ley sobre el Régimen de Propiedad en Condominio del Estado de Yucatán, art. 5 (Congreso del Estado de Yucatán) — The condominium regime can be established over properties that are still in the design stage or under construction. (accessed on September 28, 2026)
- Congreso del Estado de Yucatán, Legislación: índice de leyes — Yucatán's State Congress lists the Law on the Condominium Property Regime of the State of Yucatán as in force; it was published on October 21, 2014, and last amended on April 17, 2025. (accessed on September 28, 2026)
- Ley de Desarrollos Inmobiliarios del Estado de Yucatán, art. 16 (Congreso del Estado de Yucatán) — Private vertical developments (buildings) located in urbanized zones, as defined by the applicable land-use plan, are exempt from dedicating land to the municipality (áreas de cesión). (accessed on September 28, 2026)
- Ley de Desarrollos Inmobiliarios del Estado de Yucatán, art. 16 (Congreso del Estado de Yucatán) — In private horizontal real estate developments, the land dedicated to the municipality (área de cesión) is 7% of the gross area. (accessed on September 28, 2026)
Keep reading
- ServiceArchitecture for real estate developments
Architecture for real estate developers in Mexico by Arkham Projects: vertical buildings and master plans designed around sellable area, absorption and cost.
- AwardsAwards and recognitions
Awards won by Arkham Projects, an architecture firm in Mérida, Mexico: competition, year, result and project, with a link to the evidence where available.
- ServicesArchitecture services
Services of Arkham Projects, an architecture firm in Mérida, Mexico: custom homes, developments, interior design, temporary architecture and supervision.
About Arkham Projects
Arkham Projects is an architecture firm founded in 2013 in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico, by Min Peniche Calafell and Jorge Duarte Torre; it designs custom homes and architecture for real estate developments.
- more than 100 projects
- more than 70 national and international awards and recognitions
- founded in Mérida in 2013
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