PROJECT LOCATION:
X building
Designed by Carolina Carsellé and Eduardo Cortazár in Spring 2015 at Universidad Iberoamericana Campus Santa Fé.
Studio directed by:
Margarita Flores Miranda / Dear Architects
Carlos Bedoya / PRODUCTORA
Tiberio Wallentin / WRV
The challenge of the project resides soley on the location of the site. It is located in a roundabout which functions as a connectivity node between two of the most visited areas in Mexico City, Paseo de la Reforma (one of the most influential avenues) and Bosque de Chapultepec (protected natural reserve)
This roundabout not only connects this two areas but itself works as a CETRAM (conections and movility center), it's a bus central and a metro station all at once.
To begin understanding the site's complexity , we began mapping the physical and visual barriers that surrounded the site. Concluding in which were the most repetitive category of barriers and were they originated to focus on solving those areas first.
Afterwards we came to the realization that it was a mobility problem , and therefore began designing around a mobility strategy as the core concept. So we began by solving the mobility issues and redisigning the CETRAM and the metro station, also making an intervention in the avenues and streets surrounding the site to improve the conectivity.
The building is designed based on a 3x3meter orthogonal grid over a base rectangle. This geometry was selected to get a much more organized interior . What makes the building's geometry interesting is that the floors begin to have a rotation in proportion to the golden ratio that is noticeable from the façade.
The rotation was intended firstly to free the ground levell and allow a public space and secondly because these rotations allow the inhabitants to have different sights of the city, since it is located in the middle of 4 highly cultural sectors of the city (Chapultepec, Reforma, Roma and Condesa).
Thanks to the orthogonal grid , the structural system proposed was Vierendeel beams which grant us the smoothness to generate such rotations and allowed us not only to give the façade an apparent material finish but it allowed us to have a curtain wall which responds to our intend of a 360º view.
The project program included :
-Metro station, ground level -2
-CETRAM and commerce ,ground level -1
-Public library, commerce and a plaza, Ground level 0
-Hotel and amenities level 1-6
-Type A apartments level 6-15
-Type B apartments level 15-41
-Penthouse levels 42-44
level 44
