The remodeling of the building housing the corporate
offices of Ford on Reforma avenue is a project based on the respect of the
original building –a work of the master Villagran- dignifying it and lending a
contemporary contribution to the surroundings.
RENOVATION PROCESS
The building is catalogued as historical and artistic
building by the INBA (Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes), which applauded the
well-chosen intervention and the great interest on the part of Pascal Arquitectos
to want to preserve the rationalist reading of the building and, especially,
respecting the original concept and dignifying it.
To such end, they decided to reinforce the
horizontality through a double facade that respects the original
modulation. Because of problems with
sunlight, brises-soleil are used, they were designed and situated according to
studies of the sun’s path. In
addition, on the Rio Tiber street, the existing facade of vertical proportions
was eliminated and substituted by windows with horizontal proportions. The ventilation existing on this face is
eliminated so as to conform the volume.
CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES
The construction process required intensive
coordination with the personnel working at the corporate headquarters, in addition
to well-designed construction logistics, since the work had to be done without
suspending normal activities. So as to
avoid demolition work and to need only clean up –which reduces construction
costs- on the Rio Tiber facade, mechanical guides will be anchored to the
structure. The hanging marble will be
stapled. This is to be done in order to
position the Luxalon panels that will generate this face.
The facade with the brises-soleil is made up of
thermobrise plates and aluminum profiles anchored to the structure by stainless
steel brackets. The existing entranceway is substituted by aluminum profiles
and floating 9 mm glass, which according to studies done on physical and
mechanical behavior provides better thermal insulation than the use of double
panel glass. Vertical joints use a
common node that will favor the displacement of each of the parts and will
absorb the movements generated by earthquakes or by the self- compression of
the building.
Through history, there will be new concepts, new forms
of expression, that will lend direction to trends and will probably
revolutionize traditional construction and design systems. However, none of these new forms can be
catalogued as architectural work if they do not meet the basic requierments of
functionality, transcendence and contextual contribution and, above all, the
reason of their existence should be based on serving human beings.
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