Project Description
FROM THE ARCHITECTS:
The new Torre Olmo is
located 5km south east of the historic district of Xalapa, and south of federal
highway 140, just next to the highway overpass Arco Sur. The site has a strong
topographic slope, with the highest level being 7m above the street level.
The project is
comprised of an 8 floors office building in the shape of a cube plus a business
center, an horizontal parking lot complements the composition, and under the
cube shaped office building a commercial space faces the street.
On the west side of
the building is a stairway that connects to the lobby, a ramp offers an
alternate way of arriving to the same lobby. The lobby and the business
center are located above the commercial space. This floor level offers
different services as a front desk, an auditorium and meeting rooms among
others amenities. The office floors are completely flexible so they can
accommodate a wide variety of layouts, there is a central core where elevators,
stairs and bathrooms are located. The rooftop is a semi private terrace with
amazing views of the city.
The office building
cube has a multilayered facade, with an inner full-height windows layer and a
second layer designed with triangular panels made of multi-perforated metal
sheet, this outer layer is a solar screen that protects the interior from
excessive heat gain from sunlight exposure which helps reduce energy use and
provides a more comfortable natural illumination for the office space. The
space in-between the two facade layers is a continuos balcony accessible from
the inside that allows for a safe sightseeing of the landscape.
The design of the
outer facade layer gives the office building a distinctive character. From a
distance and during the day it is perceived as a solid metallic triangulated
cube. The texture is achieved with only two different 3D panels and all the
possible configurations allowed by the geometry of the panels. By night the
skin of the building becomes transparent due to the tiny perforations of the
metal sheet, transforming the building into an urban night lamp.