The Grupo Financiero Inbursa Headquarters is a 25 500 m2 blue glass building located on Palmas Avenue – a high-end area in Mexico City surrounded by corporate office buildings and wealthy residential neighborhoods. FR-EE’s design for the new Inbursa headquarters meets the site restriction for a maximum height of 9m by suggesting a 90 m long two-story volume. The program includes a public bank, meeting rooms, an exhibition space for the Director’s art collection, amenities for the bank employees and a parking area.
Visually, FR-EE’s design seeks to contrast the urban context of the bank. Surrounded by traditional vertical office buildings of concrete, steel and glass – the saturated blue glass façade gives the bank a contemporary and noticeable appearance, while signaling credibility and conservatism – a color also known from Inbursa’s corporate identity.
The saturated glass façade appears transparent to the employees and visitors inside the bank, who are able to observe the hectic Mexico City life from a distance. The façade is laminated for security purposes, noise reduction and to avoid solar radiation. A grand staircase of characteristic Carrara marble known from sculpture and building décor, leads up to the upper floor executive office and private meeting rooms. Generous skylight over the staircase lets in natural daylight, highlighting the art pieces on the walls and the fine Italian marble.
At night, the Inbursa bank transforms into a glowing light box with an enigmatic presence on the street.
PROJECT DATA
LOCATION: Paseo de las Palmas, México D.F., México
PROGRAM: Commercial
STATUS: Built
SIZE: 25 500 m2
DATE: 2001-2003
COLLABORATORS: INPROS y PC Construcciones, Ing. Rodolfo Méndez, Gustavo Aviles, Arquitectura Automática, Carrillo Ingenieros/ Jesus Velasco
FR-EE TEAM: Fernando Romero, Mark Seligson, Aarón Hernandez, Gabriela Jáuregui, Victor Jaime, Citlali Bernhardt, Carlos Bedoya, Juan Carlos González, Juan Carlos Fernández, Mauricio Rodríguez, Manuel Lodi, Tatiana Bilbao, Antonio Ramírez, Paola Morales
