The aim was to design a dynamic and modern façade that would provide a new image for the largest luxury retailer in Mexico.
The project’s challenge was to find a simple and effective construction system to accelerate the production, assembly, and installation of the façade and, at the same time, lead to a complex and interesting proposal.
The selected method was to use concrete precast pieces. The façade is built by combining 5 different types of precast pieces shaped like a propeller. Each propeller is made-up of 4 or 5 segments depending on its height, and rotates 180° on its axis. Heights vary between 16 to 20 meters; therefore each segment rotates 36 to 45° depending on their position.
These simple and controlled variations create numerous results for each piece, which in return provide an iconic image for the façade.
The exhibit will focus on the project for the Texcoco Lake Ecological Park in Mexico. The mutually influential relation between experience, geography and architecture is constantly addressed in his work and will be explored in the exhibition through images, plans and an installation designed ex profeso for the gallery’s space. Once completed, Texcoco Lake Project will become the world’s largest urban park, reclaiming over 143 million square meters as public spaces and green infrastructure.
Coordination LandscapeArch Fabiola Vargas, Project: LandscapeArch Yazmin AlarcónOmaris Zúñiga, Paola González, Arch: Janisse de la Rosa
Landscape design is done by managing native vegetation to create three thematic areas: Hortus deserta, Hortus essentia and Foresta.
Native species were selected with the purpose of recognizing their biological value, as part of the identity of typical Monterrey landscapes. These species have adapted to the site’s natural and weather conditions and require low maintenance and irrigation, being ideal for urban reforestation.
Integrated by two large zones, the Access Patio, and the Green Roofs and Gardens, this areas cover the project and integrate to the adjoining landscape. The access patio is the space located between the two existing structures and where the main access will be located. On the other hand, the green roofs have been conceived as the fifth facade of the project, and will help integrate the new construction to the park.
Iñaki Echeverria, one of Mexico’s emerging architects and landscape urbanists, has been invited to exhibit his work at the prestigious AedesArchitektur Forum in Berlin. For more than 25 years Aedes has successfully set the agenda in the domestic and international discourse on architecture and urban culture with its unparalleled program of exhibitions, symposia, lecture series and publications.
With more than 350 exhibitions and catalogs of notorious architects, including current Pritzker-Award winners such as Zaha Hadid, Thom Mayne, Peter Zumthor, Kazuyo Sejima, Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, Daniel Libeskind, Frank Gehry and Rem Koolhaas, among others, Aedes has established a point of reference in the cultural sphere of Berlin and the architecture world. Iñaki Echeverria will become the first Mexican firm invited to present its work in this renowned Forum.
An underground museum that integrates the latest green technologies into the building and aims for a user-generated experience
Scheduled to open in winter 2012, The Papalote Verde Children’s Museum, located in Monterrey, Mexico will be an interactive and innovative museum that integrates the latest green technology into a bold and radical architecture.
In this project the concept of a ”museum” is addressed from an entirely new perspective, as the building itself becomes part of the learning experience. A museum is usually conceived as series of rooms explaining different subjects and following a rigid sequence. In this case the core subject is present and dealt with throughout the entire museum and understood in different contexts thus enabling the visitor to build his own path.
The project explores two main strategies, one the restoration of existing buildings on site and two, the underground construction of a new building. The underground space reduces impact on the environment to a minimum and avoids conflict with the functioning of Parque Fundidora by disappearing inside the landscape. The restoration of two exiting industrial structures of the old Fundidora steel mill helps introduce a new program into an under-used space and improve its current condition.
It is expected to become Mexico’s first LEED Platinum certificate.
Located in the heart of Taichung City, Taiwan, the main goal of the project was the environmental recovery and remediation of the land formerly occupied by the old Taichung (Shuinan) Airport. Based on the 2007 Master Plan developed by the local Government, the project strives to become a “gateway” to the City, combining state of the art green technologies.
The proposal for Taichung Gateway Park integrates a sequence of public open spaces dedicated to environmental experimentation, recreation and comprehensive water management, in order to generate areas where nature and its processes blend with the City and its day to day activities.
The proposal involves a series of strategies that will operate simultaneously on several scales and along different subject areas. The idea is that the integration of said strategies will incorporate the land’s potential to provide environmental viable solutions to the inherent problems of the region.
Areas dedicated to urban sustainable agriculture, endemic and environmentally productive landscapes, multiple use corridors, and the design of a hydraulic infrastructure capable of responding when faced with critical rain scenarios, are some of the strategies behind the park’s proposal.
In the autumn of 2011 Inaki Echeverria will be invited to show a retrospective of our work, at Architekturforum Aedes, making one of the first Latin-American offices to present at this prestigious Forum in Berlin. More information COMING SOON
Architecture Forum AedesThe Architecture Forum Aedes has become one of the most successful institutions internationally for communicating architectural culture, urban design and similar topics. Aedes is associated world-wide with the great names of the architectural avant-garde and offers an excellent platform for new generations of architects in a global context. With its continuous work, Aedes has evolved into a unique cultural brand which enjoys an outstanding reputation.
Aedes strives to focus public attention on the cultures of building and architecture and to present and convey architectural visions, sustainable urban concepts, urban planning and landscape architecture. In more than 350 exhibitions and catalogs in the typical Aedes format, renowned architects and current Pritzker-Award winners such as Zaha Hadid, Thom Mayne, Daniel Libeskind, Frank Gehry or Rem Koolhaas presented their work long before acquiring world fame. In addition to 10 to 16 exhibitions per year, the dialog with outside experts and an interested public is supported by simultaneous symposia, series of lectures and discussions.
In the ancient Texcoco Lake basin, stigmatized for over 30 years, there is an area which, along with the recently obtained land, includes over 143 million square meters. This area, located in the outskirts of the metropolitan zone of Mexico City can be reclaimed as a new ecology that incorporates nature, culture, and infrastructure: a CULTURAL ECOLOGY.
The goal is to reclaim the site as the most important green piece of infrastructure of the valley, which will make it possible to reconcile the city with its geography, incorporate the hydrological cycles, as part of the metropolitan area operation; eliminate the threat of floods for the population; and contribute to reestablish the native biota.
Intervention strategies aim to restore the site, allowing for short and long term processes to take place. Through reforestation, re-vegetation and reintroduction of species the aim is to foster the recovery of the lost ecosystem.
This project will be able to revitalize social, cultural and education networks of the most neglected area in Mexico City. The proposal’s intention is to generate a soft environmental edge as a result of last century’s exponential population growth that led a city of 3 million inhabitants in 1950 to grow to over 20 million by 2000.
Upon completion, Texcoco Park will become the largest urban park in the world, reclaiming over 143 million square meters of public spaces and infrastructure.
Located facing hole 14 of the “Tres Vidas” Golf Course, this residence design strives to integrate the indoor and outdoor areas, using resting and common areas; the boundary between the public and private areas fades away incorporating the context into the house.
“Tres Vidas” House is made-up of four concrete volumes; these volumes are interconnected by a central resting and transit area made of wood and steel. Two rooms and the library are located downstairs; in the upper floor the master bedroom, the guest room and the rest of the public spaces such as the kitchen, living room and dining room are located.
The library is the core element from which the rest of the program develops; this volume “floats” among several water bodies and is the only space in the house with a double height. The block of rooms facing west is structurally solved through two concrete walls, which enable the creation of a series of terraces and balconies that open up to the panoramic views of the site.
A beach house built for two writers where the limit between the public and private fades away.
Located South of Puerto Vallarta, the project is integrated through a series of terraces that use the natural slope, in perfect dialog with the urban landscape of the Vallarta town. The voids created by the slope allow a natural flow along the different spaces of the project, boosting their use, and relationship with the exterior.
The development is made-up of 5 blocks of which 3 are oriented to the north to enjoy the best views of the bay and down town areas; the other 2 are oriented to the a west to enjoy direct ocean and sunset views.
The building has a series of common areas with terraces, gardens and recreation areas which are located along various levels and are connected among themselves through a central common area where the solarium and pool are located; the lobby, lounge bar and a yoga room constitute the rest of the common areas.
Spaces as well as circulations are incorporated to the architectural design to become living areas and not only transit areas.
Linear City is the result of stretching the physical properties of a material, as well an investigation and manufacturing process to its limits. This was achieved by analyzing the Corian’s performance and exploring its main properties: hardness and translucency.
A trial and error method was implemented to test the material resistance, through the use of the most advanced laser cut technologies. Likewise, in order to achieve a random effect, a manual/crafted process had to be added to the initial technological/industrial processes
Finally, lighting was added to the object, to exploit the translucent properties of the material. By using over imposed layers alternated with light, deepness and three-dimensional effects were achieved, which change according to the time of day. A double function, which fluctuates between lamp and latticework, is therefore obtained.
The achieved combination of arranged voids and solids combined with light resembles, in a conceptual level, a linear city.
Images by Landscape Arch Fabiola Vargas and Arch Alicia Mallen
The intervention strategies aim at restoring the site, allowing short- and long-term processes to be carried out. Through reforestation, re-vegetation and the re-introduction of species, the purpose is to encourage recovery of the lost eco-system.
These intervention strategies also have to focus on the functioning of the eco-systemic services (benefits that human populations obtain from the eco-systems). Human well-being grows through these services, thanks to the biodiversity of an eco-system.
The park will hold a rich diversity of wildlife habitats and botanical communities, extraordinary natural scenarios for recreation and relaxation. Through ecological innovation and creative design, new biological communities will prosper and will restore the site.
The restoration of ecological systems and recovery of the natural cycles of the valley’s hydrological process are proposed through reinforcement of the existing infrastructure and the introduction of important regulation areas.
In collaboration with: Jardín Botánico Nacional, Departamento de Ecología, UNAM, Biogeoquímica Ambiental UNAM
Floating over the Nabor Carrillo Lake, this building is part of the overall strategy of the Texcoco Lake Ecological Park. It can be accessed through a system of docks and walkways surrounding the different volumes, and allowing a great variety of panoramic views of its aquatic context.
The mass volume of the Museum combines a series of blind walls and lattices that enhance its texture and create contrast between solid and void. The program is divided into five concrete structures that lay on the lake bed.
Areas such as this will promote activities seldom performed in the city; boating and sailing sports, mountain cycling, as well as flora and fauna observation. These activities will help create a new relationship with the water and promote environmental awareness on the project.
By creating a social basis with an environmental backdrop, inhabitants are provided with public spaces for recreation purposes enabling them to get closer to an environmental area.
Developed to commemorate the 200 Anniversary of the Mexican Independence, the environmental remediation strategies proposed for Parque Bicentenario where the first step in the process of redesigning a new future for the old Azcapotzalco oil refinery.
Today, the strength of a park proposal is not based on its image design, but in the design of its adaptability, flexibility and performance; in how robust is its environmental base. Therefore the proposal is not based on the design of a Park but in the design of STRATEGIES for the park. This approach opposes the traditional master planning methodology, given it implements a bottom-up design approach.
The overall concept responds to the immediate urban context; the highest intensity program is located at the edge, close the subway station. The lower intensity architectural program is located in the center of the park, resembling an oasis. Finally both programs are linked by a series of paths and walkways offering visitors multiple interpretations of the project and site.
Parks are social catalysts; claiming these areas as an urban infrastructure capable of restoring social structures is of upmost importance.
The competition held to design an arc that celebrates 200 years of Independence and 100 years of revolutionary Mexico presents a historic opportunity, an opportunity that may be presented only once every 100 years.
The possibility of affecting the Avenida Paseo de la Reforma. The country’s most important for its symbolic value.
Our proposal provides the opportunity beyond the milestone that is suggested as a symbolic element of the celebration.
It uses this call to articulate two sections of the Avenida Paseo de la Reforma representing two moments in the history of Mexico: an arch, but not in form, but in its operation and logic. It combines two moments: the first, historic Mexico, the Mexico of the Reformation, and the second, the twentieth-century Mexico represented by the extension of the Avenue that houses or provides access to major museums, the zoo, the National Auditorium at Campo Marte and many other milestones …
Consistent with its stage Progress logic built of the XX century which connects the flow of cars and buses efficiently. This project falls short, however, to the pedestrian, the cyclist, the handicapped: the inhabitant and the visitor in general.
XXI century intervention can and should rethink the relationship between citizens and this space, first to meet the urgent physical need more security, and then to address the need to articulate historical and symbolic Mexico’s past with its future in a form that incorporates the entire population.
Our project includes pedestrian public space as a premise: the epic social catalyst which promotes coexistence and respect. We propose to express metaphorically and literally pedestrian public space as the great articulator: cars and buses but not living define this space.
Finally we propose to raise the public space: the vertical and speed as metaphors are no longer exclusive privilege of a few. On Avenida Paseo de la Reforma, the Bicentennial Arch becomes the viewpoint from which to generate a new perspective, broader and more inclusive, a privilege available to all.
