Design Inspiration: Urban Hacienda

Effort­less­ly blend­ing the rich her­itage of Mex­i­can design with the dynam­ic pulse of city life, Urban Hacien­da is a design aes­thet­ic that speaks to both tra­di­tion and moder­ni­ty. It cap­tures the spir­it of icon­ic Mex­i­can motifs, inter­twin­ing them with the sleek, con­tem­po­rary flair char­ac­ter­is­tic of urban land­scapes. This jux­ta­po­si­tion cre­ates spaces that are both root­ed and rev­o­lu­tion­ary.

We’re going to explore a series of spaces that show­case the sig­na­ture ele­ments of the Urban Hacien­da style, tak­ing a clos­er look at the key ingre­di­ents of this ris­ing design trend.

What is “Urban Hacienda”?

Inspired by the inter­sec­tion of mod­ern metrop­o­lis­es and the rich her­itage of Mex­i­co, the “Urban Hacien­da” style is a fresh take on restau­rant inte­ri­or design often favored by fast-casu­al din­ing spaces serv­ing vari­a­tions on Latin cui­sine. This aes­thet­ic cap­tures the essence of tra­di­tion­al Mex­i­can warmth and charm while seam­less­ly incor­po­rat­ing the dis­tinct­ly con­tem­po­rary under­tones of urban set­tings.

The col­or scheme of Urban Hacien­da style is a har­mo­nious com­bi­na­tion of the indus­tri­al grays rem­i­nis­cent of steel and con­crete and vary­ing wood tones. This neu­tral base is jux­ta­posed with vibrant pops of col­or, offer­ing a mod­ern accent that cre­ates an ele­ment of fun and brings life to the space. Think fiery red, neon magen­ta, bold yel­low, or lime green mak­ing occa­sion­al appear­ances in décor ele­ments or fur­ni­ture, adding just a bit of spice to oth­er­wise mod­ern-indus­tri­al spaces.

In terms of fur­ni­ture, Urban Hacien­da blends the sleek­ness of mod­ern design with occa­sion­al nods to mid-cen­tu­ry ele­ments. Clean lines and under­stat­ed designs dom­i­nate, offer­ing func­tion­al­i­ty with­out com­pro­mis­ing on style. Ele­ments like tapered wood­en legs on chairs or booths, or met­al frames show­cas­ing crafts­man­ship, echo mid-cen­tu­ry influ­ences.

Key to this style are the sub­tle call­backs to tra­di­tion­al Mex­i­can design. These can be found in arti­sanal touches—perhaps a mosa­ic-tiled table­top, col­or­ful art­work, or wrought iron fix­tures. The use of mate­ri­als such as ter­ra­cot­ta or hand­wo­ven tex­tiles might sub­tly grace an area, act­ing as a gen­tle reminder of the rich cul­tur­al roots the design draws from.

Indus­tri­al ele­ments, a hall­mark of urban set­tings, play a piv­otal role too. Exposed brick walls, duct­work, or even met­al pen­dant lights com­ple­ment the hacien­da feel by intro­duc­ing city-cen­tric com­po­nents. This con­trast cre­ates a space that feels both con­tem­po­rary yet deeply root­ed in tra­di­tion.

Ulti­mate­ly, Urban Hacien­da is more than just a design trend; it’s an expe­ri­ence. It mar­ries the nos­tal­gia of Mex­i­co’s gold­en era hacien­das with the dynam­ic ener­gy of city life, shap­ing an ambiance that feels both famil­iar and exciting—a per­fect back­drop for savor­ing a meal and cre­at­ing mem­o­ries.

Urban Hacienda Design Inspiration

The Urban Hacien­da aes­thet­ic is cer­tain­ly ground­ed by cer­tain sig­na­ture ele­ments, but tal­ent­ed design­ers are prov­ing time and time again that it can also be tai­lored to suit dif­fer­ing brands and spaces. 

You’ll almost always spot a hand­ful of com­mon threads unit­ing Urban Hacien­da spaces. like an essen­tial bal­ance of urban min­i­mal­ism with bold, Latin-inspired accents. And yet, there are always ways to make the look com­plete­ly your own. 

Here are a few excep­tion­al exam­ples of Urban Hacien­da design across a diverse mix of din­ing estab­lish­ments.

Zambrero

With a menu that boasts fresh ingre­di­ents and super­foods, Zam­brero is putting a new spin on clas­sic Mex­i­can food favorites. Refer­ring to their dish­es as “feel good Mex,” the brand is anchored by a fun, ener­getic per­son­al­i­ty — an iden­ti­ty that is per­fect­ly expressed by their restau­rant inte­ri­ors.

The open-con­cept design of the main din­ing area is accen­tu­at­ed by sleek con­crete floor­ing, ver­ti­cal wall pan­el­ing in light shades, and the clean lines of the fur­ni­ture and decor. Nat­ur­al maple table tops pro­vide a con­trast to the gray floors, with dis­tinct grain pat­terns that keep the eye mov­ing. A com­bi­na­tion of chair styles cre­ates an inter­est­ing jux­ta­po­si­tion, with mid-cen­tu­ry mod­ern maple chairs sit­ting along­side farm­house-inspired seat­ing in a bright, robin’s egg blue. Cus­tom bench booths fea­ture min­i­mal­is­tic back cush­ions uphol­stered in for­est green fab­ric, which ties into col­ors fea­tured through­out the over­sized art­work hang­ing on the restaurant’s walls.

A dra­mat­ic wall mur­al is unde­ni­ably a main focal point of the inte­ri­or, intro­duc­ing bright shades of pink, green, and blue. The high­ly inten­tion­al use of vibrant col­ors is a trade­mark of Urban Hacien­da design, turn­ing what could be an ultra-mod­ern, urban-style inte­ri­or into some­thing com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent

Casa Del Barco

In the Vir­ginia-based Casa Del Bar­co, the inte­ri­or takes a few steps away from the typ­i­cal­ly sleek, edgy min­i­mal­ism of urban design, opt­ing instead to add cer­tain ele­ments of warmth and com­fort. Rich, dark wood tones are reflect­ed across the floors and table­tops, and the uphol­stered booth bench­es are cov­ered in taupe and brown­ish-gray (rather than cool, stark tones). 

But even so, the sim­ple, straight­for­ward shapes of the fur­ni­ture choic­es firm­ly place the inte­ri­or in urban con­tem­po­rary ter­ri­to­ry. Cast iron table bases and squared-off table top edge pro­files exude a sense of util­i­ty, while the steel ele­ments in the chairs are a defin­i­tive call to an indus­tri­al aes­thet­ic.

Of course, the star of the show is the mur­al cov­er­ing an entire wall of the restau­rant and tequi­le­ria, a folk art-style piece with a ver­i­ta­ble rain­bow of neon col­ors. Fin­ish­ing touch­es like the small, col­or­ful vas­es and flow­ers on each table tie it all togeth­er, paint­ing a pic­ture of Urban Hacien­da style adapt­ed for the Casa Del Bar­co brand.

Hello Monty

Hel­lo Mon­ty is a restau­rant and brew­ery in Chat­tanooga, Ten­nessee, found­ed by two locals who are pas­sion­ate about fun and fla­vor. With a big fol­low­ing and an even big­ger per­son­al­i­ty, the Hel­lo Mon­ty brand is a flaw­less fit for the vibrant, friend­ly, and mod­ern feel of Urban Hacien­da design.

The grit­ty, indus­tri­al ele­ments like exposed brick and rus­tic wood floors are beau­ti­ful­ly con­trast­ed by the gleam of pol­ished maple table tops, while exposed duct­work and high ceil­ings cre­ate a loft-like expe­ri­ence. Booth seat­ing is accent­ed by sage green seat cush­ions, a crisp col­or that plays nice­ly with the bright yel­low appli­ances vis­i­ble in the open kitchen. The hor­i­zon­tal slats of the park bench-style booth backs echo the lines of the table­tops and bar, while the curves of the mid-cen­tu­ry mod­ern bar stools keep every­thing in bal­ance. 

Although art is kept to a min­i­mum, col­ors set against a crisp white back­drop cre­ate visu­al inter­est, work­ing with key accent col­ors to present a uni­fied aes­thet­ic.