ROW wasasked to develop a proposal for de redesign of the facade of a shopping centeralready under construction located on Jimenez Cantu Avenue in Zona Esmeralda onthe northwest of Mexico City. The clients required a proposal that would beeye-catching and that at the same time would blend with the surrounding foreststhat are characteristic of the area. Due to the high costs involved inredesigning the façade in a project that was already under construction therewhere important budget constraints that needed to be taken into account as partof the design. Ourproposal consisted of a metallic façade superposed to the concrete structure ofthe building that created grand irregular volumes that went from bigger tolower roughness along the length of the façade. Metallicplaques gave shape to the volume and adapted to the different uses of theshopping mall. On the parking level they would be perforated to allow naturallight and ventilation to the interior, on the stores they would be solid andwith a bright coating on their outer face and on restaurants and circulationsthey would be substituted with glass to show the views to the forests, hillsand mountains of the surroundings. Since theshopping center was being built on top of a 98 foot (30 meters) tall platformour design included the creation of a green wall covering the containment wallof the base and throughout the full length of the access ramp thus helping thestructure mimic with its surroundings.
Architects: ROW Studio Álvaro Hernández Félix, NadiaHernández Félix, Alfonso Maldonado Ochoa.www.rowarch.comUse:Shopping Mall, Facade RedesignClient:Grupo GDI.Architectof Record: INMOSUR SA de CV Arq. Álvaro Hernández Cabada.Location: Location: Mexico CityContributors: Carlos Marín, Ariel Rojo.Date of theProject: October 2008
