LIVERPOOL INTERLOMAS

Liverpool department stores, with a 164 year old history, have for the most part always been one of the main anchor stores for large shopping centers in Mexico. Its strategic location plays an important role in the immediate urban context.Located in the northern “car dependent” suburb of Interlomas on the outskirts of Mexico City, this relatively new suburb is characterized by a lack of open public space and a myriad of roads on which pedestrians are not welcomed.

The new facade responds to a fast pace of the everyday life in this isolated suburb, sitting in the middle of a very congested intersection of highways and overpasses, which give it a futur- istic “Blade Runner-like” feel.

With an existing circular footprint, the customization process of fabricating directly from 3D models drove the ideas behind the façade de- sign intent. Speed became a very important fac- tor in the way the project is experienced. Flexibility, fluidity and dynamism drove the design process.

The double-layered façade shelters the store and it’s users from its chaotic environment. It’s sleek stainless steel machine-like exterior, is intended to evolve in a very fluid way as the intense sun bathes it throughout the day. It’s a contradiction to the grit and chaos of its surroundings; a juxtaposition that becomes a new reference for this part of the city.

At night the hollow cavity between the layers of the façade is engulfed in light that subtly escapes through the fine reliefs formed at the folds in the skin. The façade transforms at night from its solid monochromatic appearance during the day to a dynamic form accented by light.