Mexico
1994, unbuilt

This office building is part of a new development by Reichmann International in the heart of Mexico City, on a site which was largely destroyed in the earthquake of 1985. Within the context of a Master Plan developed by the noted Mexican architect Ricardo Legoretta, the design of the buildings has been entrusted to several international architects (Caesar Pelli, Aldo Rossi. Fumihiko Maki, etc).

This project is a low-rise building. located along the front of the site, facing the historic Alameda Park. It has the proportions of a cube – the lower two floors of the building contain shops which plug into the shopping arcade along the rear of the site. The upper floors are for offices, with the top three having Executive Suites opening on to terraces with marvellous views of the city through the large “urban windows at the top of the building.

From Alameda Park, these openings, floating just above the level of the trees, will frame the multi-faceted mural, painted in the great Mexican tradition of public art, so vividly exemplified in the work of Deigo Riveira and Orazco. The external walls are clad in black volcanic rock used in many of Mexico City’s oldest buildings with the mullions of the square windows in a glossy reddish-brown metallic finish.