About
DONIS is an international studio of architecture, urbanism, research, industrial design, and art. The studio has won several international prizes, including the Dubai Frame, selected as the first-prize winner from 926 proposals in an international competition regulated by UNESCO-UIA; the first prize for the National Palace of Justice in Paris; and the winning design for a new landmark for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games at the City of London. DONIS designs, develops, and builds projects across a wide range of scales and programs, consistently pursuing innovative, sustainable, and socially engaged architecture. DONIS was founded by Fernando Donis, Mexican Dutch architect who received his Master’s degree from the Architectural Association in London through the Design Research Laboratory (DRL), where he studied under Patrik Schumacher and Brett Steele. He also received a PhD in Architecture from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), through the doctoral research program The City as a Project, led by with Pier Vittorio Aureli. His doctoral research, FRAME, is a five-chapter study of the archetype of the frame and its role in the architectural and urban history and culture of Mexico. Following his studies at the Architectural Association, Fernando Donis worked closely with Rem Koolhaas as an Associate at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) for nine years, from 2001 to 2009. During this period, he was the main designer of the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing, among numerous other architectural projects and masterplans. He also collaborated with AMO, OMA’s research and design branch, contributing to research projects concerning the European Union. Fernando Donis has taught at the Berlage Institute and the Academy of Architecture in Rotterdam, as well as at Universidad Iberoamericana and Universidad Anáhuac in Mexico, integrating architectural research, design, and urbanism across multiple scales. His work and career have received international recognition. In 2011, CNN Expansión selected him as one of the 30 most promising and influential people in Mexico. In 2015, Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs selected him as one of the country’s most creative Mexicans living abroad.
Torre MM
Guadalajara, Mexico
A 43,000 m² residential tower comprising 260 luxury apartments with large oblique terraces overlooking Guadalajara. Developed in close collaboration with the client and market research analytics, the project integrates 25 distinct residential typologies, exploring a wide range of apartment sizes, numbers of bedrooms, layouts, lifestyles, budgets, and evolving market demands.
The result is a building that is socially and spatially complex while remaining formally clear: a simple slab accommodating diverse users and households, creating a mixed city within the city—a vertical community inhabited by different generations, backgrounds, and income groups.
Its façade is the natural expression of this intricate social composition while simultaneously responding to the landscape of the Country Golf Club facing the site.
The combination of programmatic diversity and a strong relationship with nature contributed to the tower's immediate commercial success.
At the same time, Torre MM distinguishes itself from the four neighboring residential towers designed by Sordo Madaleno and Teodoro González de León. Rather than a uniform volume, it becomes the more complex central element of the ensemble, oscillating between mass and void and offering a distinct architectural identity from every viewpoint.
Oriented toward the Country Golf Club, the tower acts as the centerpiece of the emerging "micro-Manhattan" along Avenida Américas in Guadalajara. Its oblique geometry, varied residential typologies, and dynamic terraces redefine high-density living as a balance between urban intensity, social diversity, and landscape.
