Mexico City stands out for being a superpopulated city, where nature has been forgotten as the city has grown. Cadaval & Solà-Morales wants to recover that previous ecosystem, the creation of hanging gardens around the patio on the terraces allows creating a new historical dialogue, as the previous can coexist with the current.
Description of project by Cadaval & Solà-Morales
The towers and the patio
The Building is located in Polanco, one of the centers of greatest urban intensity in Mexico City. It consists of 3 independent towers that are articulated to generate a central patio that allows the construction of a community space that constitutes the identity of the complex and is qualified by its friendly proportions for the scale of the building.
The patio allows all units to have a double orientation, and therefore the ensures cross ventilation of the apartments, and with it, the possibility of thermal control with passive systems.
The building was born from the desire to be a project open to the city. Generating the maximum number of linear meters of façade, and trying to ensure that they have the best possible orientation to guarantee the best possible thermal and light contribution to each and every one of the departments. At the same time, the will to define an efficient and economic construction system, based on the definition of dimensions that avoid large gaps and therefore structural cost overruns.
Each of the 10 plants of the project has 4 departments; Along with two apartments that enjoy a private patio on the ground floor, the project has a total of 40 units. The apartments are distributed around the central patio, totally consolidating its north facade, and opening to the south. The location of two vertical cores, as efficient in their operation as possible, act as a hinge between the departments.
Apartments
The design of the apartments seeks the construction of the quality of each of the spaces of that integrates them based on their spatial, light and view qualities and not on the finishes. Thus, the apartments are designed to make the public spaces of the home as transparent and open as possible.
The distribution of the departments is designed to concentrate the downspouts and ventilation at specific points, in order to grant maximum flexibility to future alterations to the distribution. Finally, the project seeks to maximise the distribution of the units, and uses the more public spaces in the apartments as distributors, thus avoiding the existence of corridors.
Roof Garden and Collective Areas
The roof has a big pergola that unifies the experience of the terrace and shade the area. Different areas are proposed, characterized by small provisions for the whole. Thus there is an area for barbecue grills and an area with tables. The vegetation foreseen on the roof aims to add quality and comfort to the terrace.
The patio is a catalyst of light, heat and views for all the apartments, but it is also the heart of the project: what will build the identity of the place.This central zone has an extension of vegetation and trees; Being a private and interior area, isolated from the street, it can be a rest and play area for children, as well as a small lung for the whole complex. The gymnasium and a small rest or reception area open onto this central space, which is projected as an area of vegetation and color that also serves as a connection to the access area of the building.
