Project Statement:

Looking back at Mexico City, we are fascinated with the notion of an aggregated city, a city that builds on top of itself, through to this notion we felt that it was necessary to produce a building that emphasizes these qualities by connecting back to the city. The “loose stack”, produces a connective tissue within the urban fabric of Mexico City. Through this aggregation of parts, the building starts to produce a open environment that allows for multiple disciplinary contacts through the understanding of a new ground. The new ground promotes a porous environment, producing a new apparatus between the existing urban fabrics.

Massing Strategy:

Through an interest in porosity, and producing continuity between the building and the present site, a “loose stack” was used as massing strategy. We interrogated the idea of producing discrete objects that become stacked and leaned against each other. Through this notion, the residual space produced from this stacks, activates new exterior spaces which can now be utilized for programmatic use. Through this understanding, the boundaries of the project starts to become questioned in an unconditional manner. Furthermore, the building is tucked in to the existing site, producing a new dialogue in-between the existing and the new.

Tectonics:

During the studies of our facade, we wanted to tackle a series of key points that are vital in retaining the mass qualities that the building contains. One of the key points that needed to be addressed, how do we create a facade that does not disrupt the legibility of the mass. Secondary, how does the facade co-exist within the understanding of the urban fabric. The facade consists of three primary systems - layers of Glass-Fiber Reinforced Concrete (GFRC) panels, embossed Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP) panels, and figural apertures. The apertures are deployed in a hyper-specific manner in contingent with the local urban context through use of sampled openings. The layering of panels creates moments of reliefs that ties back to the existing urban context that the prehistoric buildings retain. In order to retain the legibility of the mass, the embossed panels were deployed throughout the mass whilst maintaining an understanding of subtlety.