On top of Casa Hoyos Hotel in San Miguel de Allende sits Tonana Bar—a 270-square-metre rooftop space where prehispanic mythology and contemporary design collide. Mexico City designer Andrés Gutiérrez of A-G estudio has created something that honours the feminine divine through materials, shapes, and cultural depth.

The name Tonana comes from Tonantzin—Nahuatl for “Our Sacred Mother”—the prehispanic Mother Goddess who gives life, devours it, and renews it all at once. That duality shows up everywhere here, in what’s chosen and how it’s shaped.

Tezontle volcanic stone, often called “the volcanic blood of the earth”, covers the floors and walls. It’s rough and porous, grounding everything in Mexico’s geological past. Against this, brass fixtures and marble surfaces shine. The contrast works: raw meets refined.

The furniture tells old stories. Custom seating draws from Cipactli, the primordial crocodile-earth creature from Aztec creation myths. These sculptural pieces, covered in dusty pink and deep burgundy, curve across the terrace. Water features nod to Chalchiuhtlicue, goddess of water and rivers—the nurturing side of the divine feminine.

Behind the bar, a custom shelving unit displays pre-Columbian vessels and artifacts alongside bottles of spirits. The bar front glows with illuminated panels set against a burgundy and terracotta backdrop. Brass lighting warms the whole space, especially striking against the wine-coloured mosaic tiles on the interior walls.

The cocktails extend the idea further. They honour ancestral healer-women through infusions based on medicinal plants and botanicals. Each drink reinterprets traditional healing practices for today.

Gutiérrez collaborated with Sebastián de Los Angeles and Federico Mascarell on the design, with Claudia Escalante overseeing the project. What they’ve made is a rooftop bar that’s also a cultural statement—ancient wisdom translated into volcanic stone, brass, and marble.

[Images courtesy of Andrés Gutiérrez / A-G estudio. Photography by Leandro Bulzzano.]