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Architects: Taller de Arquitectura-Mauricio Rocha
- Area: 1459 m²
- Year: 2004
Text description provided by the architects. One of the guidelines for this project's design was conditioned by the plot's shape; a storm drain created a curve against the straight line of the main street. As a result the L-shaped walls appropriated the plot's geometry while roofs opened northward to provide plenty of indirect lighting.
These elements were the starting point to accomodate a program-for repairs to furniture and property belonging to the Milpa Alta district government-divided into three areas: a warehouse, a workshop area and an administrative area, each independent but connected by a path that connects to the main street. The building's heights correspond to their program, the highest used for the warehouse, with the heights descending until they reach the lowest building, used for administrative purposes. In the central building the height enabled the construction of mezzanine areas which can be closed off.
On the skin of the self-supporting walls made of local basalt stone, a light, independent metal structure is raised, with columns and roofs made of C-section steel joists and metal sheeting. The window frames are modular, on the basis of the previous elements, which work independently or as a group. The upper windows stretch to the edge of the building modulated in openings to become vertical windows overlooking a plantation of nopales.
Within its defined shape, evocative of a woodlouse, the building is a container whose spaces can be use for various purposes with workshops for carpentry, cabinetmaking, ironwork, and painting.
