R432

Render @ Dbox Courtesy of Rojkind Arquitectos

R432, a mixed-used tower in downtown Mexico City, explores how Gaston Bachelard’s Imagination of Matter can create distinct environments within a single building while unit aggregation can produce multiple spatial configurations

Render © Rojkind Arquitectos

Location

Mexico City

Year

2009

Status

Proposed

Program

High-Rise, Hotel, Office, Residential, Restaurant

Areas of Exploration

Fabrication, Façade

Construction Area

53,322 square meters (573,953 square feet)

Partners

Rojkind Arquitectos (Michel Rojkind and Gerardo Salinas)

Reforma Avenue has been one of Mexico City’s main avenues since the second half of the nineteenth century, and is one of the most important avenues and city hallmarks due to its symbolic value and urban quality.

Site plan © Rojkind Arquitectos

Render © Dbox Courtesy of Rojkind Arquitectos

R432, on Reforma Avenue, is a project that fully embraces its urban condition. The building opens up to the street, and the street, guaranteeing safety, comfort, and privacy, enters the building. By combining twelve slots of land, we now have a single lot stretching from Reforma Avenue to Tokio Street, opening up the possibility of turning Manchester Street into a pedestrian walkway and giving the side facade a singular urban quality.

Study models © Rojkind Arquitectos

Of the fifty-four floors of R432, three are reserved for commerce and luxurious restaurants, offering their services to the occupants living on the higher levels of the tower while connecting them with the city, rich with experiences of an urban environment. In total, twelve floors will be dedicated to offices and parking, and twenty-eight for residences. The five basements of the tower will be reserved for parking for the residents. There will also be floors dedicated to technical operations as well as recreation and entertainment for the residents, including a gym, play area, swimming pool, massage area, and jogging track. The top ten levels of the tower will host the Buddha Bar Hotel, which promises to be one of the city’s most enviable locations, enriching the lifestyle of the tower’s inhabitants.

Render © Rojkind Arquitectos

R432 doesn’t just multiply the base area by its number of floors, piling one floor on top of the other. The tower is divided into blocks or zones that are identified by a theme or rather by an environment based on Gaston Bachelard’s Imagination of Matter, each of them implying colors, textures, smells, and sounds. Starting from the ground up, we find earth, stone, metal, crystal, water, rain, seeds, plants, and fire.

Starting from the basic 70 square meter unit that is generated by the structure of the tower, the housing elements can be made by combining two, three, or more of these units. They can be combined horizontally, vertically or in a combination of both, allowing for different spatial and functional configurations. In this way, the R432 housing units can occupy several levels and enjoy different views, creating a unique combination that will set it apart from the rest.

R432

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