The path we travel everyday as architects is uncertain and complicated in many aspects, and at the same time it’s magical and gratifying, a way of living. Our work manifests our thinking and our searches, becoming in these few years a resistance to circumstances. We want to continue growing, exploring, learning, risking and resisting this path.
Located in the historic downtown of Morelia city, Mexico – two blocks away from one of the most emblematic public squares in the area: Las Rosas -, the project approach began when the client wanted to turn an abandoned wine cellar of 8.00 x 40.00 meters, into a gastronomic market. When we met the old warehouse, we like the idea, but most of all we liked the silence that was felt (uncommon quality in the downtown of a Mexican city), we also thought it was a good opportunity to combine our language with the architectures of the past and to explore the relationship and the dialectic between both.
Avenida Central is the most beautiful street in the city not only because of the annual blossoming of its big Jacaranda trees but also because of its avant-garde urbanism. Developed in the late 60’s, Chapultepec Norte neighborhood is located 3km east of downtown Morelia and contrasting with the colonial urbanism and architecture of the historic center, some Modern ideas were stated in this area. However, the uniqueness of this street comes from its wide sidewalks and its thick landscape parkway, two important concepts that slows traffic and create an environment suitable for pedestrians and bicycles.
For us, architecture was an excuse to revalue these urban concepts and include other ideas of the ‘New Urbanism’ through a mixed-use building.
The project consists of the façades and roof-garden of the Call Center (CAT) and the main lobby.
CAT. We were commissioned to design of the façades and the roof garden of a rectangular building of 60×40 m and three stories that contains a call center, on the outskirts of Morelia. These buildings are the first phase of a future corporate campus.
The suburban context of isolated buildings scattered on a hilly site suggested that the building could merge with the landscape by using colours, shapes and materials that could suggest a large rock made of red minerals and a green platform. The metaphor had to be subtle but clear and very architectural, so we selected perforated Corten steel and a faceted skin to wrap the building.
It is located in the outskirts of the city of Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico, within the facilities of the club Country Club Las Huertas. The request of the administration and the partners was the design of a new enclosure that would welcome the discipline of spinning, since the area where the activity takes place lacks optimal facilities. The request was in the first instance only the building to house the sport, but would have to move in a place isolated from the rest of the property since the occupation of land was at the limit.
The NaveIndustrialRX (RXFactory) project started with the operation of a radioactive source for the steel industry. Safety was the main concern of the client, not only because of the radioactive source but because of the building itself. The first and most important outline in design was choosing concrete as the main construction material. The whole building was modulated according to the metallic panels used to cast the concrete: factory’s floors and walls are constructed in multiples of 60cm leaving it exposed, which helped us to arrange the constructive and compositional elements of architecture.
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