Can a building change the culture of a company? Can the design of the physical environment impact the way in which we communicate? These are but a few of the questions that the project for the new MAG headquarters analyzed and attempted to address.

Currently, the company is housed in a series of detached structures situated on a large tract of agricultural land in southern Guatemala. The configuration reinforces a separation of departments and limits the individual employee’s ability to understand his or her role within the company.

In order to reverse this condition, the new building is designed with a large open room, capable of accommodating all employees, Flexible desk arrangements create a collaborative working environment that minimizes the current hierarchy, with directors seated in open desks alongside employees. The plan also provides for a variety of work spaces, including enclosed, semi-private meeting rooms, exterior courts, open terraces, archives and reading spaces that provide a variety of work environments (both interior and exterior) for productive individual and/or collaborative work.

The overall form of the building is inspired by both vernacular and industrial building typologies seen throughout the Guatemalan countryside.

BUILDING MATERIALS:

Structure
Exposed reinforced concrete base
Stuccoed concrete block walls
Steel roof trusses

Finishes
Exposed concrete floors
Grey porcelain tiles
Veneer plywood paneling

Glazing
Aluminum frames - anodized aluminum finish and white. Low E glass

Furniture
Custom- steel frame & veneer plywood

BUILDING DETAILS:

Date of completion
2015

Design time
12 months

Construction time
24 months

Project size
68,000 ft2

Project cost
7 Million $US

Project location
Escuintla, Guatemala

PROJECT TEAM:

Architects
CURE & PENABAD Architecture and Urban Design

Consultant
ARUP Engineers

Contractor
Ingenio Magdalena

Mechanical Engineer
Basulto and Associates

Photographer
Carlos Domenech

AWARDS:

2015 AIA Miami- Honor Award Architectural 50,000+ – Built
2012 AIA Miami- Excellence in Design – Unbuilt

PROJECT Q & A:

What was the building / land like before the project started?

The project site is located within Guatemala’s lowlands. This is a flat, coastal landscape where sugarcane fields rise seven feet above grade in most places. To the North is Guatemala City and the extraordinary Agua and Acatenango Volcanoes, and to the South is the Pacific Ocean.

What was the client's brief for the project?

The client's brief was to design a large corporate headquarter for a sugar mill in southern Guatemala. Our clients asked us to design a single building that would express the company’s collaborative and creative spirit.

How would you describe the clients?

The client is one of the largest producers and exporters of sugar from Guatemala, and one of the largest exporters of refined sugar in Latin America.

What was the inspiration for the design?

The client brief provoked us to think about the ways that a building can change the culture of a company and impact the way in which people communicate. We began researching office spaces beginning with the Uffizi, through postwar American corporate models and ending in post social networking spaces. What we discovered was that companies that promoted creative and collaborative work generally gave less individual desk space and in turn provided greater amounts of shared space where chance encounters and meetings could occur and a community could be created.

We also wanted the building to have a clear figure and a scale that could register against the vast tropical landscape. Our references came from the industrial generic sheds of the area, Guatemala's vernacular architecture and Mayan pyramidal structures.

What sustainability features does the project have?

This project features the integration of passive and active sustainable features. The building is precisely oriented to the cardinal points of a compass. The light in this area of the world is a particular one. Being so close to the equator, the sun is almost always directly overhead. The overhead light, directly influences the design of the skylight. We limited the glazing of the skylight to the side walls and developed a system of louvers to further protect the glazing from direct sunlight. This skylight allows a diffused lighting condition for the main hall which permits the interior to function with little to no artificial lighting, as well as allowing the hot air to circulate out of the building. By adding a plinth on the bottom and lifting the building of the ground plane, we are able to capitalize on the prevailing breezes from the southwest and protect the building from flood waters during the rainy season.