Torre Bicentenario in Mexico City by OMA

Article source: OMA 

Compared with the world’s other economically ascendant regions such as Asia and the Middle East, Latin America has a skyscraper deficit. Poised to harness the economic and symbolic potential of the Bicentennial, Mexico City will celebrate a historic moment with the emergence of a new skyscraper, the Torre Bicentenario. In an architectural age defined by the pursuit of expression at all costs, the Torre Bicentenario is building whose unique form is responsive rather than frivolous; a building whose form facilitates rather than complicates its use: the stacking of two pyramidal forms produces a building simultaneously familiar and unexpected, historic yet visionary.

Image Courtesy © OMA

• Architects: OMA
• Project: Torre Bicentenario
• Location: Mexico City
• Photography: Frans Parthesius
• Model: Vincent de Rijk
• Client: Grupo DANHOS
• Partner in charge: Rem Koolhaas
• Team: Shohei Shigematsu, Christin Svensson, Gabriela Bojalil, Noah Shepherd, Natalia Busch, Leonie Wenz, Jan Kroman, Leo Ferretto, Max Wittkopp, Jason Long, Margaret Arbanas, Jonah Gamblin, Amparo Casani, Jin Hong Jeon, Jane Mulvey, Michela Tonus, Matthew Seidel, Nobuki Ogasahara, Justin Huxol, David Jaubert, Mark Balzar, Charles Berman, James Davies, Jesse Seegers
• Site: Northeast corner of Chapultepec Park, adjacent to the interchange of two major highways
• Associate Architect: Laboratory of Architecture – Max Betancourt, Fernando Romero, Dolores Robles-Martinez
• Engineers: Arup – David Scott, Chris Carroll, Ricardo Pittella, Michael Willford, Bruce McKinlay, Julian Sutherland, Alistair Guthrie, Huseyin Darama, Yuvaraj Saravanan, Betsy Price, Keith Frankllin, Matt Clarke, Renee Mackay-Lyons
• Final concept design floor areas: BOMA gross area: 173,158.5m2; BOMA leasable area: 151,755.7m2; Mexico City leasable area: 150,528.1; BOMA usable area: 130,547.2 m2

Image Courtesy © OMA

Skyscrapers tend to internalize their features. Atriums typically create dramatic spaces within, hidden from the city around them. Here, a void cuts through the building’s widest point, providing access to light and natural ventilation and creating a relationship between the floors within. Public programs are located at the junction of the two pyramids, at 100m, the datum of the buildings that surround it. A pattern of reflective glass panels covering 50 percent of the interior surface maximizes light penetration. The void twists at its midpoint, opening at the bottom toward the park and at the top toward the city. Rather than exacerbating the skyscraper’s isolation, it connects the building to its surroundings. The building bulges toward Chapultepec Park and the historic city centre along the axis of the Reforma.

Image Courtesy © OMA

Image Courtesy © OMA

The site of the Torre Bicentenario lies at the northeast corner of Chapultepec Park, adjacent to the interchange of two major highways. Located at the edge the park, major infrastructure and the city, the project has the potential to benefit all three. A chain of high-rises runs along the Reforma and continues around the park. The Torre Bicentenario will extend this line of buildings around the park.

Image Courtesy © OMA

Image Courtesy © OMA

The two districts adjacent to the Torre Bicentenario, Las Lomas and Polanco, are separated by two major highways and their interchange. To provide a link between them, a new pedestrian bridge extends from the Torre Bicentenario to the east, crossing over the Periferico highway, establishing a shortcut that reconnects formerly disengaged sections of the park and the city.

Image Courtesy © OMA

Image Courtesy © OMA

Image Courtesy © OMA

Image Courtesy © OMA

Image Courtesy © OMA

Image Courtesy © OMA

Image Courtesy © OMA

Image Courtesy © OMA

Image Courtesy © OMA

Image Courtesy © OMA

Image Courtesy © OMA

Image Courtesy © OMA

Tags: Mexico City

Categories: Convention Center, gym, Mixed use, Museum, Office Building, office Complex, Offices, Parking, Restaurant, Shop, shopping center, Skyscrapers, Tower

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