Jean Nouvel’s recently designed residential development, Aquarela, in Quito, Ecuador is under construction. In collaboration with local architectural developer Uribe & Schwarzkopf, the 136,580-square-metre organically designed project blends with the surrounding mountainous landscape.
Located in a “sector surrounded by green areas and large squares, strategically located and easily accessible, within the best residential area of the Cumbayá Valley”, Aquarela includes nine residential stone-cladded blocks. Ateliers Jean Nouvel imagined an approach that could mimic the context, with curved balconies wrapping the intervention, overfilled with greenery. These rocky gardens connect the residents to the natural outdoors and strengthen the integration of the building.
The interior space is characterized by large glass windows, tall slatted wooden shutters, and open spaces. In the lobby area, greenery also takes up a large portion of the place, generating some sort of continuity with the natural exterior envelope.
The breadth of its squares, its gardens and its large communal spaces make this project one of the most eco-efficient in the city of Quito -- Ateliers Jean Nouvel
Creating an imposing entity, with its flora and its facades, Nouvel, the 2008 laureate of the annual Pritzker Prize, combined a relatively simple design with the natural elements of the site. With the first phase set for completion in 2020, the project will soon reveal a clubhouse that includes a bowling lane, an ice rink, a yoga studio, a music room, a mini-golf, and a cinema.
The spacious terraces, gardens and swimming pools of the units allow the use and use of these outdoor spaces with nature as the main actor. Terraces that, together with the green roofs on the roof plants, return the space occupied by the building to nature, further improving thermal insulation and generating recreational spaces. -- Ateliers Jean Nouvel
- Status: Under construction
- Starting Date: 2017
- Developers: U&S - Uribe y Schwarzkopf, Fideicomiso Aqua
- Program: Residential Building
- Area: 75 000 m² / 130 500 m²
- Location: Cumbayá, Quito, Province de Pichincha, Équateur
- Design Team: Jean NOUVEL – Ateliers Jean Nouvel
- Associate Architects: Alberto MEDEM – Humboldt Arquitectos S.L
- Project leader: Alberto MEDEM assisté de María ROJO
- Architects: Cristina DE LUCAS, Guillermo GOMEZ, Eduardo HERNANDEZ, Roberto HOYOS, María ROJO, Jesús RODRIGUEZ
- Landscape: Isabelle GUILLAUIC
- Images: Cristina DE LUCAS, Eduardo HERNÁNDEZ, Sabrina LETOURNEUR, Jesús RODRIGUEZ, María ROJO
- Graphics: Eduardo HERNÁNDEZ, Eugenie ROBERT
- Interior Architecture: U&S – Uribe y Schwarzkopf
- Local Architects and engineers: Uribe y Schwarzkopf Ingenieros y Arquitectos S.A
- Consultants: CIEL ATELIER, GREENSTAR, GRUPO SAM
