ArchShowcase Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination. Da Vinci Residential Tower in Distrito Federal, Mexico City by Pascal ArquitectosNovember 2nd, 2011 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: Pascal Arquitectos
This real state is located in Hacienda de Las Palmas Ave. # 10, Subdivision Hacienda de Las Palmas, Huixquilucan State of Mexico and extends on a 2’897.13 m2 area, with an average level difference from front to rear-end of 17 meters, which represented the first disadvantage since a river flows in the rear-end and there was practically no space to work and store the materials while the water was diverted.
2. Project Description and Objectives:
The project is laid out as a House Tower in a Vertical Condo which offers 38 apartments, stair cores and 3 elevators; one of them for service, all 3 communicates to 118 cars in cellars and 12 more in level of access, reception, room of monitoring, hall of multiple uses, track of swimming, paddle-tennis court and swimming pool on the roof, the whole building is accessible for disabled. In addition it has gardens and common areas; everything is described in the following table: PROPORTIONS AND QUANTITIES CHART:
The building has of the following levels:
Ground Floor (Street Level) 760.08 m2; including services and facilities. The main access to the Tower is located in this level, as well as the Vehicle Accesses to Private Parking Lots and Parking Lots for the disabled and visitors. Underground Parking Lot Floors; 4,439.96 m2
The 3 parking lot underground levels; three in the aggregate, have 118 parking lot spaces and 36 warehouses, as well as an adult room, Exit to the common garden, paddle court and the playground. To access from the sidewalk level to the parking the Condo owner can go through two ramps on the Hacienda Santa Teresa Street and the exit ends on the same street, whereas the people’s movement is through the two main elevators, the service elevator and the stairs; all of them communicate to the whole building vertically.
Apartment Floor (Levels 1 to 19) 587.86 m2 by level; 19 levels.
The apartments, 38 total, are located in these levels from de floor 1 to the 19 and are arranged 2 by floor, consist of area for service, with vertical circulations with stairs and elevator of service, in addition of de the main elevators that unload in Lobbies of Distribution to the apartments. The Standard Apartment consist of three bedrooms with bath and dressing room each one, a space of living-dining room with a bathroom for visitors, familiar room, full kitchen with a space for pantry, patio and a room for service and are resoluted en areas from 269.64 m2 to 401.42 m2 including terraces. Roof Floors (63.94 m2)
The body of vertical circulations and the elevators engine rooms are located on this floor; there is also an outdoor swimming pool and a suntan area, recreational areas and a bar. 3. Constructive System:
This building is developed with an armed concrete structure constructive system based on beams, columns and slabs, with two big lateral casts and a foundation based on concrete columns of up to 2 meters in diameter and a depth of 22 meters; the concrete used was mostly of the rapid resistance type and of 300f’c resistance. The whole façade is ventilated contains the following materials from the inside to the outside: sheetrock, mineral fiber, Tyvek, Durock, a vapor barrier, an attachment system, final finish – Prodema, ceramic glass, sandstone. All of the façade coating elements are suspended, screwed or clamped, the façade is completely removable. In this way a thermo-acoustic-meteorological barrier is created and makes the building efficient in regard of all the aforementioned elements. This system, in turn, allows easy façade reposition, change or maintenance, as well as easy access to the facilities that surrounds the perimeter of the building. This makes easier access to facilities because in the beginning it was decided that all bathrooms were oriented to the façade for ventilation, and at the same time the discharges are routed to the outside with rear discharge toilets and strainers with parapet in showers. All this results in a system of completely independent facilities, where repairs can be done in the outside and not in the inside from the neighbor’s apartment, thus avoiding humidity and noise from de discharges from the neighbor below. This way, all the façade becomes a duct. Light block and sheetrock walls were used in the inner divisional wall of the apartments. It bears mentioning that this prevention of passive conditioning makes the building more efficient in regard of the thermal area, so the energy consumption is lower and the investment in air conditioning equipment too, at the same time it contributes to ecology saving energy and achieving better comfort without the use of mechanical devices. 4. Facilities:
As it is mentioned before, all the facilities are on the perimeter of the building to easy access and comfort as well as acoustic isolation of these to the interior. Additional, the building has collection, recollection, filtering and storage of pluvial water systems for reuse. A plant for residual water treatment was also installed with which the building discharges clear water to the gully and also recovers, filters and stores part of this water for irrigation of gardens and car wash. The building has facilities against fire. Electrically, the building has two emergency plants required for the energy supply if necessary; hydro-sanitary, automation and monitoring of equipment, telecommunications, access control, closed circuit of TV, preparations for air conditioning, ventilations and mechanical extractions, among others. 5. Finishes: It is very important to point out that the whole building is tri-dimensionally modulated in feet since the materials come in feet proportions. All this is based in a module of four by four feet, which allows the following: the use of better materials because there is no waste cost, coincidences in all aspects of all elements, faster and cleaner work since there is no need of inventory, workshops and adaptations – besides, the timing is shorter; a lower initial investment since there is no waste by cuts and a system more bound to the ergonomic measures. All this implies strict controls or work, but at the same time a unified language of measures that allows all the participants to require less supervision and consultation. In the façade, ceramic glass was used (122*2.44), prodema (122*2.44), (pre-coated wood) and sandstone (61*122) of 3 cm. All the materials (proven to behave appropriately for the atmospheric conditions in the Valley of Mexico), have an attachment and assembly system that allows its repair and reposition; the building as projected barely needs maintenance in the next ten years. As to the finishing materials, they are of high quality and were used both in interiors and exteriors, as well as apparent concretes and prefabricated elements for a building with these characteristics. Natural granite was handled and floor tiles in accordance with the location in the apartment, as well as granites, tiles and apparent concretes in common use areas. Inside the apartments, finishes like gypsum plain were handled in walls, ready to receive the final finishing; granite in bathrooms and kitchens, tiles in humid locals of the facilities as well as apparent finishes in concrete for the common areas. As finishes for plafonds, gypsum was used over the tiles or the use of false plafonds according to the type of each particular local. The finishes for the facades have the same materials used only if they are modular prefabricated elements for this purpose. Contact Pascal Arquitectos
Tags: Distrito Federal, Mexico City Category: Tower |