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Architects: Alvaro Moragrega arquitecto
- Area: 1320 m²
- Year: 2014
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Photographs:Jaime Navarro
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Structural Design: Cero Motion, Juan Jesús Aguirre
Text description provided by the architects. At the heart of the Colonia Americana a 5 story project is designed inspired by the industrial buildings of the inter-war period. The main façade has an orthodox abstract rhythm of void and filled spaces that do not follow any structural order. The voids themselves have a second protective lattice with falling crosses evocative of similar lattices often used in the area by the Escuela Tapatía.
In the interior a private courtyard organizes the building’s connecting parts, this space, protected by high walls contains a waiting area and is shaded by a preexisting large tree. A concrete tower has the elevator and the stair ramps complete the composition of the north elevation running along the full corridors length generating different rest areas that function as lookout points.
The apartments are modular and, at their simplest form, begin from a 60 square meter studio. The units can be mixed up either horizontal or vertically. The building’s structure is designed to allow the elimination of walls and parts of the flat slabs allowing great lofts and double hight duplexes.
The buildings structure is made up of concrete walls with brick formwork that result in the ‘clad’ for both interior and exterior walls. On the inside the apartments are organized with a minimum of glass partitions that create a stark contrast with the walls and floated pine flooring. Wood tables with marble tops make up the improvised kitchens. The bathrooms, behind the glass partitions, are solved with simple elements such as the triple shower heads with exposed copper and brass plumbing.
On the top floor the penthouse is set apart by the recessed façades generating a corridor around it protected by the overhang of the concrete roof breaking apart the façade’s final level. This particular unit with full north and south glass fronts is organized by a single centered module with the bathrooms, kitchen and laundry.
