ARCHITECTURE IS WHAT IS LEFT AFTER THE BATTLE OF THE PASSIONS
EQUILIBRIUM ORDER PUBLIC SPACE MODULATION APERTURE ART
LAS CALZADAS HOUSE INDEPENDENCIA HOUSING LOWLINE LOWLINE MARKET MEETING POINT DRAWINGS
2009 Masterplan in colaboration with Paulina Leal.
The site is located at the San Pedro, Garza Gacía municipality, in the neighborhood“Las Calzadas”. For the Masterplan, house lots were configured around a central park crossed by a water canal. Two service streets were located on each side so the biggest quantity of space would be seized and every house would have view and acces to the park.
The 1110 sq. meter site is located on the superior part of the housing complex next to the water canal. The design comes from an extense study of Mies van der Rohe’s architecture and of his basci principles: modulation, structural and spatial, transparency and uidity.
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The project is divided into three parts: private, public and services, united all through an acces atruim.
WA TER
1110 m2
The placement of these parts comes from the narrowness of the terrain, so by consequence, two patios are created which embrace public spaces and give service to the private and service spaces.
SITE
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PRIV ATE
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NORTHWEST ELEVATION
A
A’
GROUND FLOOR
SECOND FLOOR
SOUTHEAST ELEVATION
B’
SOUTHWEST ELEVATION
NORTHEAST ELEVATION
A-A’ SECTION B-B’ SECTION
ORDER
2010 Masterplan in colaboration of Marisol GonzĂĄlez, JosĂŠ Esparza and Alejandro Nila
Located at the Independencia district, the site counts with an area of 5139 m2, 115 meters of length and y 45 meters of width. Besides having a pronounced slope of 10 meters, the site has the disadvantage of containg a high tension tower in the north part. The independencia district is one of informal housing located on the skirts of the Loma Larga heel. The place required a housing program, some comerce, and lots of public space. The Masterplan consisted in the location of housing modules based on a 5 x 8 meter grid, aroung a grand central plaza.
The design of the buildings comes from an extense study of the architecture of Louis Kahn. Kahn´s principles of order and separation of serving and served spaces are key to the development of this project.
M A S T E R P L A N
The building complex consists of three appartment buildings staired according to site´s levels and unaligned in function of sights and sunlight.
PUBLIC SERVICES PRIVATE
These three elements are divided by the vertical circulations that connect them.
SERVING SERVING
Each one of the buildings is formed by a public area (living and dinning) and a private area (bedrooms) divided by a service area (kitchen and bathroom).
SERVED SERVED SERVED
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TYPE FLOOR PLAN
WEST ELEVATION
EAST ELEVATION
A-A’ SECTION
SOUTH ELEVATION
NORTH ELEVATION
B-B’ SECTION
PUBLIC SPACE
2011 Masterplan in colaboration with José Esparza and Omar Moreno
This project consists of an intervention through Washington street in the central district of Monterrey, Mexico. The importance of this street relies on its position inside the city´s urban trace, for it connects diverse points of great importance such as Fundidora Park, the Macroplaza (main plaza), the Alameda plaza, and the Bishophouse district. Nonetheless, although such advantages, the street has been greatly deteriorated, and there aren´t adecuate conditions for the cyclist or the pedestrian. This way, a dignified space that rises public space and life quality of the city´s inhabitants is proposed. After studying cases such as the “Highline” in New York, or Yona Friedman’s “Spatial city”, the idea of the Lowline arises as a way to implement these cases´ equivalent in Washington street.
FOOTPRINT
50% FOOTPRINT
70%
10%
SIDEWALK PATIOS
10%
2.5%
STREETS/ PARKINGLOTS
STREETS/ PARKINGLOTS
15%
SIDEWALKS/ PARKS
40% PARKS
2.5%
2011
This project forms part of the “Lowline” Masterplan on Washington street. The site to intervene is a fruit and vegetable market called “El Mesón Estrella” just a few blocks up the Colegio Civil, in the central district of Monterrey. Two catholic churches are located at the north part of the market (Dolores and Perpetuo Socorro churches) and they are both lost inside the city´s urban trace because of not having an appropriate space to appreciate them. Besides, the market does not count with the necesary spatial requierements to achieve its function.
For the development of the market, the same rules established for the Lowline were impementes (as shown next in red), connecting Washington street, the existing market and Alameda plaza. For the streets connecting horizontaly, a lane is removed to extend the sidewalk. This way a whole ciculation system is created and complemented by the breaking of the blocks that make up the market. Small plazas were created at the center of each block, besides a great plaza facing the churches. For the block treatment, a structure modulated by ten meters was implemented. Its hights depend on its proximity to streets. The structure connects with four different housing modules and a market module for the ground oor. These modules create different conďŹ gurations that provide dynamism that contrast with the stiffness of the structure, besides each house can have its own terrace. Vertical circulations are located on each of the interior corners of the complex.
APERTURE
2011
This course’s intention was the restoration of unused urban structures and buidings. The intervention site is an abandoned 15 story steel structure located in Cuauhtémoc street in Monterrey. Constructed in 2005, the building was meant for office use, but it was never finished. Located in the center of the city, in an extremely comercial district and in a zone with big development potential, where public space is practically nule in comparison with the high fluency of people, “Meeting Point” tower acts as an atrium for Cuauhtémoc street as a completely public space in vertical, where any citizen can take part of cultural, educative and sport activities.
The intervention consits in creating two voids through the structure, one horizontal, and another vertical, so that four boxes result suspended by the same structure. In the horizontal void of the structure, a public plaza is located and complemented with trees.
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BEFORE
VOIDS
Vertical circulations are located at the permiter of the structure by 3 diferent ways giving as result dynamism in the façades. For each of the resulting towers, an elevator and service volume is placed.
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VERTICAL CIRCULATION ORDER
RECEPTION ROOM
OFFICES
THEATER
The program is completely public and is divided by leisure space, an art gallery, a botanical garden, restaurants, a theater, a reception room and offices. The activities that happen inside the complex vary according to the proximity of a program with another, so that they all complement mutually.
RESTAURANT
ART GALLERY
LEISURE SPACE
BOTANICAL GARDEN
This way, the prexisting is respected, renewing it and potencializind it in favor of the city’s inhabitants. GROUND FLOOR
FIRST FLOOR
SECOND FLOOR
THIRD FLOOR
FOURTH FLOOR
FIFTH FLOOR
EIGHTH FLOOR
FOURTEENTH FLOOR
SIXTH FLOOR
NINTH - TENTH FLOOR
SEVENTH FLOOR
THIRTEENTH FLOOR