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Venetian
Venetian
San Juan, Puerto Rico
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Other Projects by Álvarez-Díaz & Villalón | Architecture & Interior Design
Venetian
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Type
YEAR
2012
SIZE
25,000 sqft - 100,000 sqft
BUDGET
$10M - 50M
During the first decade of the 21st century, scores of residential buildings received the green light for construction in the burgeoning, upscale tourist district of Condado, Puerto Rico. Each promised spectacular ocean views, easy walking access to the area’s plethora of designer-named boutique shops, showy high-end restaurants, night clubs, and casinos. And each commanded an ever-escalating price tag for proximity to this prime, highly-coveted strip of land measuring only slightly over 200 acres in size. This was a fiercely competitive battleground for real estate dollars—where only the fittest would survive.
When the architects at first toured the site, they immediately detected two problems. The first was the orientation of the lot—perpendicular—not parallel to the sea. The second was the impending threat (not yet apparent to the casual observer) of certain claustrophobia of construction that would soon be occasioned by two imposing buildings slated to arise around the proposed building.
The solution came when the team decided to offer a slight tilt to the structure: a curiously skewed perspective that, happily, was very much aligned with the mentality of the target—a dynamic yet slightly off-center, creative-minded professional not afraid to showcase his or her individuality. This new angle on the problem not only resolved the issue of geography but it also imparted a slightly off-kilter personality to the entire building that spoke directly to the psychographics of prospective future residents.
A second aspect of the design made the Venetian equally attention-grabbing. In blueprint, the vertical structure of the Venetian echoed the tectonics of a classical Doric column: narrower at top, wider at base for support, but once again, with a twist. Here the broader ‘base’ was actually not the true center-of-gravity offering physical support to the building overhead—in fact, quite the opposite. This widest part of the structure (the first and second) appear to be balancing over a much narrower foundation, creating a slightly magical, trompe d’oeil illusion: a floating base that appeared to defy the laws of gravity.
This was a Mannerist Tectonics, made-to-order for a 21-century audience.
When the architects at first toured the site, they immediately detected two problems. The first was the orientation of the lot—perpendicular—not parallel to the sea. The second was the impending threat (not yet apparent to the casual observer) of certain claustrophobia of construction that would soon be occasioned by two imposing buildings slated to arise around the proposed building.
The solution came when the team decided to offer a slight tilt to the structure: a curiously skewed perspective that, happily, was very much aligned with the mentality of the target—a dynamic yet slightly off-center, creative-minded professional not afraid to showcase his or her individuality. This new angle on the problem not only resolved the issue of geography but it also imparted a slightly off-kilter personality to the entire building that spoke directly to the psychographics of prospective future residents.
A second aspect of the design made the Venetian equally attention-grabbing. In blueprint, the vertical structure of the Venetian echoed the tectonics of a classical Doric column: narrower at top, wider at base for support, but once again, with a twist. Here the broader ‘base’ was actually not the true center-of-gravity offering physical support to the building overhead—in fact, quite the opposite. This widest part of the structure (the first and second) appear to be balancing over a much narrower foundation, creating a slightly magical, trompe d’oeil illusion: a floating base that appeared to defy the laws of gravity.
This was a Mannerist Tectonics, made-to-order for a 21-century audience.
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