Photography: Roberto Ortiz Giacoman, Jorge Taboada
"The Centro Roberto Garza Sada de Arte Arquitectura y Diseño(CRGS) has 21 laboratories, 3 exhibition spaces, 2 amphitheatres and diverse multipurpose indoor and outdoor spaces. Located in a site of 20,700 square meters, its' dimensions from axis are 99meters by 27meters. It has 6 levels of 5.4meters height.
.'The Shell' is an element that closes the building below that reaches spans of 80 meters. It was poured in site and its' staggered shape evokes the folds of the mountains from Monterrey.
The finishes of the building are: Walls: Exposed concrete; plaster; gypsum board; resin panel.-Floors: granite; polished concrete with an epoxic covering.-ceilings: gypsum board; resin panels; Windows: aluminum with thermally broken system and duovent + low e glass.
The structural solution is based in a principle called composite action where the structural steel and the concrete work at the same time. That is why the concrete become to something more than just an architectural or esthetical element. The CRGS is perceived from the outside as a solid shape working together with its' main element in the face below denominated 'the shell' and framing the 'Sierra Madre'(the mountain range). However, inside its' concrete walls there are several architectural spaces that are properly illuminated, open, transparent through its' glass walls that interacts with the natural elements and allow altogether to generate in their visitors and users lots of sensations so diverse due to the interaction of natural light, shadows, scale of the elements, its' presence and depth that allow the observer to be placed in amazing perspectives that frames what happen inside and outside of the CRGS as well as the mountainous environment in a majestic way."
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