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Architects: TEC - Taller EC
- Area: 8500 m²
- Year: 2015
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Photographs:Sebastián Crespo
Text description provided by the architects. Located in Cumbayá - Ecuador, one of the centers of greater population and economic growth of Quito, a diverse-use building is designed consisting of 48 offices of various dimensions, 17 commercial spaces (business and restaurants), underground parking, and a central core composed of an interior boulevard, elevated covered plazas, bridges, green spaces and balconies / terraces at various levels of the building.
The concept of the project originates from the analysis of two fundamental premises, on one hand the use (defined as the program) and the immediate environment (location and comfort). If a traditional office building, where the typical floor consists of an opaque core and the use of glass on the exterior walls; this project breaks this paradigm by completely reversing this composition to generate transparency inside the building and a sensible permeability in the exterior, creating zones of transition and encounter between two important points along the way: the exit of the vertical circulation in the different levels and the entrance to each office. While an individual form of work is done in every office or space, the building suggests areas for collective meeting for the construction and transmission of knowledge among the people who live in it, not only on the ground floor (boulevard with restaurants and shops) but also in open spaces in the different levels which have the condition of covered plazas.
Due to the morphology of the terrain, the high speedway in front of the building, and the different sizes of spaces required in the program - a large central open space is created with the adequate flexibility to satisfy all the complementary requirements of the program, perforating the mass of the building at all levels achieving an inner boulevard from the north corner to the east corner of the surface, dividing the large block into two buildings connected by permeable bridges.
The materiality of the building complements its concept; all the facades facing the streets are covered with a perforated metal net as an element of visual and sensorial transition of the direct relationship between the vehicular traffic and internal activities of the building. This shell allows the entry of natural light in a sensible way, the combination of the glass facade functions as a double shell that filters the natural light and natural heat. The weather of Cumbayá permits the creation of open covered plazas in the various levels and the generation of an internal microclimate through elements such as vegetation hanging on each floor that combined with balconies / terraces generate a passive cooling system and comfort in all the spaces.
The building's character is a direct response to the program (organization) and environmental comfort, in which a timeless volume is proposed that not only responds to the pragmatic conditions but also to the urban context and which beyond being architecture, it intends to become a new infrastructure in a urban center that has grown precipitously in the last 10 years. The elemental nature of the building is reflected in the complexity of its systems, each of these has a specific function that will allow the building to operate effectively over time.
