La Pirámide

Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM), dep. of architecture

Project idea

The project takes place in Cuernavaca, Morelos, as a proposal for apartments whose purpose is to rest and get away from the city for a few days.

The project rises from the necessity of being a rest place where the users can get out of the city and have a great holiday experience. The topography played an important role, that was the main reason we considered a volumetry based on similar modules that can be replicated and adapted to the existing land.

Project description

One premise of the design process was to avoid towers and instead of that, adapt the volume to the shape of the land. In that way the site could be optimized and focused on the main views towards the south-west. It is important to know that the main orientation of the project involved a bioclimatic challenge, due to Cuernavaca is characterized by being a zone with abundant solar incidence.

Based on the topography and the bioclimatic context of the site, staggered volumes are planted with vertical and horizontal offsets, which generate half levels, terraces and shade each other to protect themselves from the sun through overhangs which work as pergolas and extended concrete walls to provide privacy to each social area.

The geometry of the modules generates a massive volume as if it was a pyramid, taking reference of the ancient buildings of México.

In addition, an introspective façade at street level provides privacy, going unnoticed and adapting to its context, a residential area, without knowing what awaits the user once getting in.

On the ground floor, a lobby and a 3 level parking floor receives the user. The vertical circulation consists of a “big column” divided by 3 different cores, each one connecting the central corridors with the different platforms.

There is only one type of apartment floor plan, in which a corridor connects private spaces with the public ones and the services are located among the bedrooms. Every apartment has an excellent social space, complemented with a terrace bringing views to the ravine.

The amenities are located strategically in the central part, where social events or similar can take place, turning it into a buffer and a transitory area that congregates and distributes the users.

Technical information

It was proposed an open plan system and three cores which work as vertical circulations axes and structural support for the apartments, as well as amenities area.

The lobby and parking work almost as an individual system, due to its support by steel trusses, which are attached to the land. However, what integrates this module to the entire system is the vertical circulation axis that gets inside it. The louvers located in the south-west facade protects the parking from the sunlight and creates a play of shadows as well as bringing continuity in the staggered pattern.

Concrete with a warm subtone works as the main material, which creates a harmony among the colors of the site ground.