Chapalita Building | Agraz Arquitectos S.C.

Text by Ana Guerrerosantos

The ten thousand square feet terrain where once there was a big family house, right in the Chapalita roundabout, in a place that went from housing to commercial area in the past years, had to renew its calling due to the changes of land use.

So first of all the idea of repeating the housing program came up, that is, an apartment building with commercial units in the ground floors. But this scheme was not successful due to the changing occupancy of the zone which would not offer the correct conditions as for the tranquility and calmness requested by this building gender. Then a second plan came: a two story shopping center. However, another series of valid arguments brought this idea down, and most of all, the fact of the land and building costs being higher than the real state goals. So this is how the third alternative came up to be the best one: an office building with commercial units on the ground floor.

For Agraz and Di Vece Arquitectos the challenge was utmost interesting for other than bringing up an opportunity to recycle land, there was a correct combination between the client’s real state business and the chance to satisfy the city’s need for having specialized office buildings.

What was next is the challenge to fit the project into the current construction regulations in the time the structure was built. The design was appropriate for the land use and occupancy coefficients, achieving rapid construction licenses and real state profitability for the client.

The result is a six story building with bare impact for the area. It can only be appreciated from certain distances or angles, whereas at close range it seems to be in mimicry with the large green surface of the roundabout. Located on Chapalita Avenue, the car entrance and exit is on the San Dionisio back street, while having in its front an open plaza that continues the roundabout area.

The architectural solution responds to the simplicity of a single vertical circulation unit with stairways and bathrooms; an elevator in the center and a small lobby. The façade carries a matching crystal structure where some pieces are transparent and others are opaque. These are windows that through their transparency hide some areas and allow more light in others, making an aesthetic design with its contrast.

The Chapalita Building is a non invasive slim structure that hosts shopping stores in its ground floor and office areas in its vertical tablet.

DATASHEET

Completion date: Winter 2011

Location: Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

Designer: Agraz Arquitectos S.C. & Ricardo Agraz and Paolino Di Vece

Photographer: Mito Covarrubias

Site area: 900m2        

Construction area: 2,329m2