Concentrico designed Mi Pan Bakery in Mexico City by analysing the values, rituals and visual codes of traditional Mexican bakeries. The project translates more than 40 years of baking culture into a contemporary retail environment focused on memory, community and shared experience.
Traditional bakery rituals and self-serve layout
For more than four decades, Mi Pan has served thousands of families, creating a connection between generations through bread and everyday rituals. The design honours bakers and bakery traditions while creating a space that remains familiar and accessible to its customers.
The self-serve layout is central to the project. It preserves the original bakery experience and invites customers to move through the space with someone close to them, transforming the purchase into a shared moment.
Materials linked to the baking process
Metallic baking trays become a key design element, directly connecting the production process with the shopping experience. Their repeated use throughout the interior makes the bread-making process visible and reinforces the central role of the product.
Pinewood boards structure the space and introduce warmth, balancing the colder presence of the metal trays. The terrazzo floor references local supermarkets, while the integration of the brand’s orange colour gives the material a distinctive identity.
Ceramic tiles further connect the project to traditional bakeries, creating a warm and recognisable environment without distancing customers from the everyday nature of the store.
Lighting, ceiling and customer journey
The tray ceiling reduces the perceived scale of the space and contributes to a more welcoming atmosphere. Its reflective surface works with the ceiling lighting to create diffused ambient light, supported by product spotlights.
The layout is clear and functional. Customers enter laterally through the coffee shop area, reach the centre of the bakery, begin the bread selection route and conclude the experience at the checkout counter.
The space also includes custom-made metallic furniture inspired by designs used in local restaurants around 1980, the year Mi Pan opened.
Visual communication and Mexican bakery culture
The store communication references the tradition of handmade signs, widely used in Mexican streets to identify individual shops. These messages become part of the interior narrative and help tell the company’s story.
Phrases such as “Always good from dough to crumb” and “40 years later and our bread is still as it always was, authentic” reinforce the identity of Mi Pan as a bakery rooted in real bread and everyday traditions.
Before leaving the store, the experience continues through cake displays connected to meaningful family celebrations, including Rosca de Reyes and Pan de Muertos, both associated with memory, rituals and collective moments.
The design of Mi Pan focuses on creating a sense of community while respecting and honouring the traditions of Mexican bakeries.
Project details
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Client: Mi Pan
Design studio: Concentrico
Art Direction: Alejandro Peña Villarreal
Architects / Designers: Alejandro Peña Villarreal, Ana Rebeca Mata, May Cisneros, Jose María Cuevas
Project Manager: Alejandro Peña Villarreal
Photos courtesy: Apertura Studio – jPark Studio
About Concentrico
Concentrico is an interdisciplinary collaboration studio engaged in architecture, interior design and creative concepts. The studio works through collaborative processes and develops projects across architecture, branding and storytelling.