U.S. Consulate General in Matamoros, Mexico

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A Lesson in Biophilic Design

Located across the Rio Grande from its sister city—Brownsville, Texas—the U.S. Consulate in Matamoros, Mexico, serves over 70,000 people per year. In its previous location for 45 years, the old Consulate simply could not keep pace with the need. A new campus was necessary. While the project had to adhere to OBO’s evolving (and strict) security standards, it also needed to be an active and welcoming part of the neighborhood and city. The new U.S. Consulate General at Matamoros reflects the ethos and identity of the United States, while honoring the traditions and culture of the host country.

Located site an old hotel between two international bridges and adjacent to the city’s primary public park (the Parque Olímpico), the 7.7-acre Consulate comprises an office facility (the chancery) and six support buildings. Its public consular entrance opens right onto the park. Visitors enter the campus through large shaded and planted plazas, where they can comfortably await their appointments. The outdoor spaces are designed to be welcoming to all—staff, visitors, and endangered insects. “The monarch butterfly migration pattern flows right through here,” says Kotter. “Plants were selected that would be supportive of that population as it moves through and past Matamoros and Brownsville.”

SHADE CANOPY

The expansive outdoor awning at Matamoros was constructed from tensioned PTFE fabric panels in a steel structure. The architectural membrane material transmits light brings an open, airy feeling during the day and offers backlit luminosity at night.

Saint-Gobain White Sheerfill HT II plastics.saint-gobain.com

MEMBRANE ROOF

Monolithic Membrane 6125 (MM6125), the original hot fluid-applied rubberized asphalt membrane, contains a minimum 40% recycled content and is a thick, tough, flexible, self-healing membrane that is easy to detail and bonds directly to the substrate. The product has been in the marketplace for 50 years, with more than two billion sq. ft. of MM6125 installed on projects in over 80 countries.

American Hydrotech MM6125 www.hydrotechusa.com

LIMESTONE Cordova Cream Texas Limestone and Cordova Shell Texas Stone blocks are selected by Architectural Stone Imports’ inspectors at the quarry, then transported to the factory to be slabbed to desired thickness. Each slab is reviewed for color, vein direction, grain, and overall quality prior to cutting to size. ASI’s inspection team coordinates with the factory to lay out the specified sizes on each slab.

Architectural Stone Imports Cordova Cream Texas Limestone; Cordova Shell Texas Stone www.asistoneimports.com

U.S. CONSULATE GENERAL MATAMOROS, TAMAULIPAS, MEXICO

Size: 109,469 sq. ft. Broke ground: 2016

Completed: May 2019

Photography: Gabe Border ©Richärd Kennedy Architects

RESILIENCE IN FLOODING

The site’s landscape and water catchment system absorbs or captures 90% of rainwater runoff. This was essential to prevent the 1-meter elevation of the site from exacerbating fall Rio Grande flooding.

EXTERIOR & INTERIOR METAL PANELS

Reynobond Composite Material consists of two sheets of coilcoated aluminum laminated on both sides of a core material. Highly durable, it is rigid yet flexible and integrates seamlessly with curtain walls. Weighing 3.4 times less than steel and 1.6 times less than pure aluminum, it is extremely lightweight.

Arconic Architectural Products

Reynobond Composite Material www.arconic.com

AIR BARRIER

AIR-SHIELD LMP Liquid Membrane Vapor Permeable Air Barrier is a water-based air/liquid moisture barrier that cures to form a tough, seamless, elastomeric membrane.

AIR-SHIELD LMP exhibits excellent resistance to air leakage. When properly applied as a drainage plane, AIRSHIELD LMP prohibits liquid water intrusion into the substrate. AIRSHIELD LMP has been specifically formulated to act as an air and liquid moisture barrier, allowing vapor to pass through it.

Distinctively Mexican + Uniquely American

The design is both distinctively Mexican and uniquely American. The three-story latilla shade canopy is the chancery building’s signature element. A latilla is a structure common in the region; traditionally stripped wood branches, usually made of mesquite or saguaro, are laid across beams to form an overhead cover. The expansive outdoor awning at Matamoros uses tensioned PTFE fabric panels in a steel structure and acts as a transition for individuals, bringing them out of the harsh sun and under a canopy of diffused light, before they enter the building’s controlled interior. The latilla’s vertical supports are a modern take on the traditional colonnaded entrances of Beaux-Arts government buildings in the United States.

The project was awarded LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Its lighting and mechanical systems use 20% to 30% less energy than a typical building. And the campus not only uses low-flow plumbing fixtures, but it also harvests rainwater and treats wastewater for irrigation demands.

Prior to construction, Matamoros struggled with public safety issues. “The grand opening was a really powerful day, because this facility has uplifted their downtown and reinvigorated the whole community,” adds Kennedy. There is a returned sense of safety on Avenida Álvaro Obregón, thanks to the presence of the new Consulate.

The buildings are faced in locally quarried limestone that has been used in civic architecture for decades on both sides of the border. The stone extends inside the chancery’s main common space, providing a consistency to the design that brings the outside and inside spaces into harmony.

Exterior Lighting

The Smith bollard and Smith light column are suitable for both modern and classic architecture. The bollard is even available as a traffic-rated security bollard. A sleek and minimalist shape provides distinctive lighting effects by night and decorative urban effects during the day. The luminaires have an ultra-high impact UV stabilized acrylic lens that provides excellent low glare vertical and horizontal illumination.

Ligman Lighting Smith bollard; Smith light column www.ligmanlightingusa.com

Offices

Staff workspaces have a high degree of flexibility. A low-profile access floor and easily reconfigurable furniture facilitates communication and collaboration while offering the potential to densify in the future.

OFFICE CARPET TILE

TILE FLOORING

The Daltile collection of limestone includes a palette of several neutral and organic tones including light beiges, dark beiges, browns, taupes, grays, and whites. The collection incorporates multiple finishes, floor and wall sizes, and coordinating mosaics and trim. Used in Adour Crème at the U.S. Consulate General in Matamoros, the limestone adds a soft, natural look.

Daltile Adour Crème www.daltile.com

Interface designed the Human Nature carpet tile collection as a foundation that ignite the senses through light, color, texture, and detail. Consisting of eight different colorways, the HN850 style is offered in 25 cm × 1 m planks that blend seamlessly in an organic movement across the floor. The collection is designed for heavy foot traffic, ease of maintenance, and durability.

Interface HN850 www.interface.com

STUNNING STAIRCASE

The chancery’s central gallery is available for use by individuals on all three levels and is basked in sunlight, thanks to clerestory windows. A perforated metal staircase connects all three levels of office space.

SLIDING GATE

NATURA consists of a variety of texture panels and dividers inspired by the rugged outdoors of Utah’s very own backyard. Each is patterned after the organic lines and repetitions that appear in nature including waves, circles, hexagons, and swirls. Manufactured from Baltic Birch Plywood core material, NATURA patterns expose the layers beneath the surface resulting in an individual and unique panel.

Soelberg Industries

NATURA soelbergi.com

WOOD FLOORING

The flooring in the central gallery is reminiscent of the hexagonal mesquite blocks used in the MatamorosBrownsville boardwalk, dating back to the 1880s. The effect is strikingly modern despite the historical reference. The End grain flooring is becoming popular with architects and designers around the world. Its unique, yet classic look, and superior durability make it a perfect candidate for commercial applications. Like all wood floors, it can be stained to achieve the desired design aesthetic. End grain flooring is sustainable because it can be made from smaller diameter and low-grade timber that might otherwise be left in the woods.

Old Wood www.oldwood.us

PENDANT LIGHT

Barbican’s award-winning uber-high performance LED cylinders are available in 1-ft. increments up to 20 ft. These solid, one-piece fixtures impart a seamless beauty to their environment. Built from a specially synthesized material that yields 85% light transmission while offering excellent LED hiding properties, these fixtures can provide all the light required in a space without using supplemental downlights.

Barbican Architectural Products barbican.ca

U.S. Consulate General

Hyderabad, Telangana, India

Size: 205,000 sq. ft.

Broke ground: 2018

To complete: April 2023

Renderings: ©Richärd Kennedy Architects