Project designed by: Faci Leboreiro + Aura Laguna
The concept of this project is set on the baking passion of Irene, the house owner. Through her baking, Irene brings her family together and her living room becomes the welcoming point for every gathering. Based on this a color and material palette were selected that evoked her signature recipe as well as a warm interior for her family to meet.
Project designed by: Faci Leboreiro + Aura Laguna
Los Interioristas project, in collaboration with Discovery Home & Health and Architectural Digest, consisted of remodeling a space that represented a strong sentimental burden for a family. It was competed against 5 interior design firms, and this project was the winner. It was later executed and the work ended November 2019.
Project designed by: Faci Leboreiro + Aura Laguna
House Irene has a fully equipped kitchen that allows her to develop her pastry skills. The bookcase is the center of the project that emphasizes the internal patio and creates a link between the kitchen and the dining room. The colors correspond to a warm palette and the materials used make this space cozy. The combination of these elements create an environment for family coexistence, the main objective of this project.
Project designed by: Faci Leboreiro + Aura Laguna
The Agave Center was developed for the Félix Candela Award, it proposes to devise a “House of Agave” within Mexican territory and linked to the specific exploitation system of one of the products that are extracted from it. This project was centered in the Pulque, traditional mexican fermented drink. The Center is complemented by a commercial area and emphasizes the link between pulque production and its conservation, sustainability and social focus, fostering the interest of the new generations towards agriculture, an art that is being lost in Mexico. The final Master Plan proposes a more regular scheme, where the building uses are more distributed along the project, thus creating a more complete and dynamic center.
Ground Floor
Academic Building
Ground Floor Administrative Building
The architecture within the Center was designed to integrate the natural environment and include aspects of the agave from its plantation and history, to its conservation, production and industrialization.
The Agave Center addresses an interdisciplinary experience towards learning with an educational center that, focusing on Pulque, promotes biodiversity, ecological conservation and community participation.
YA’AX, emerald green in Mayan, is located in Chiapas, south of Mexico. Chiapas’ emerald forests are home to the Quetzal, sacred bird of mexican heritage. The path guiding us, slithers, resembling the Quetzal’s flight.
There are 6 cabins, or nests with a meeting center designed for the current necessity but with the option for a possible growth in the number of cabins.
Each of the centers is linked by a path with its ya’ax coloured wood, always resembling the Quetzal.
The intention of the design was to be fully surrounded by the forest and to have the possibility of more privacy due to the multiple arrangements the cottages around the nucleus can have.
The sliding glass panels allow the user to establish a limit with the environment or loose the boundary between inside and out.
The adobe and stucco cottage is a retreat that allows itself to be surrounded by the forest.
A wooden nest, in dark tones, resembles a haven for the Quetzal.
A destination for those who seek to experience Chiapas.
The Cultural Center for Arts and Design aims to give the city a unique space where design can be exhibited, learned and appreciated.
The project was approached from an urban point of view. Through the creation of squares, gardens and landscape design, the CCAD seeks to integrate itself into its surroundings and invite people to experience it.
Direct relation with context
Metro
Exit within complex
Exhibition
Area
Library
Cafeteria
Water mirrors as guides
Offices
Workshops
Performance
Hall
Central Garden as focus point
Outdoor Exhibition
Areas
This building houses the food services available at the Cultural Center.
A cafeteria, restaurant and terrace are available to satisfy the needs of the visitors and workers of the Center. These spaces allow a total of 844 people to have a unique experience within this building.
This library holds books of art, architecture and design. It hosts collaborative and individual work areas, as well as workshops in order to have a complete design experience.
Vértiz #543 is a housing complex with a focus on generating social housing, public space and commerce. The latter is achieved with a Super-ISSSTE on the ground floor and basement.
Patios are created throughout the complex and its intention is to relate the residents with their environment. For this reason, it was decided to integrate terraces in all levels, to include recreation areas at each level and achieve a quality home.
Regarding the structure, the use of joist and vault was defined for the mezzanine system as it is a precast element that reduces construction time and expense. It responds to the spacing of 6m, 7m and 3.5m.
The foundation, on the other hand, will be a 4m deep concrete foundation form, within which the parking lot and the main part of the SuperISSSTE (supermarket) will be located.
The installations of the complex were also developed and can be displayed in the following QR code.
Within the complex, the patios, in addition to ventilation and lighting for the apartments, function as public spaces, thus creating areas for recreation and common use for both residents and visitors.
The vegetation, the open ground floor and the urban furniture allow the public space to have a continuous experience.
This project, in addition to including the site in article 47 bis, demonstrates the habitable potential by making changes to the law. The increase in affordable housing for beneficiaries turns towards a compact city model by having a location close to work centers and reducing the use of private transport. The public space generates recreation areas and allows local commerce, as well as the reactivation of the social interaction…thus creating city.
Project designed by: graus + Aura Laguna
The Fuentes Brotantes complex has a privileged location south of Mexico City. One of the main focus points of the project is the relation between architecture and the forest reservoirs of the city, therefore 62% of the site will be green areas, both private and semi-public. The project was designed as a dynamic and radial urban project around a single road. It will have 52 residences with a linear and modular design, which is also contemporary and conscious to the environment.
Fuentes Brotantes has three housing typologies. The first one has 3 full built levels, while the second and third typologies have two levels with the opportunity to expand to a third in the future.
This project adapts to the new demands of society with its timeless design.
The present time has challenged us to redefine the way we live and design. Therefore this project prioritizes natural lighting, ventilation and outdoor recreation. Fuentes Brotantes adapts to a growing Mexico City, while enhancing and respecting one of the forest reservoirs the city has.
Project designed by: graus + Aura Laguna
The Bossche hofje together with the Raepenhofje share a particular approach towards the question “how will we live together?” They do not belong to the same Foundation; however, they share a courtyard which is, in most cases, one of the defining characteristics of a hofje since the success of such typology is based on the success of the garden and its relation to the housing. The sharing and care of the central garden has become the catalyst for an interaction between the students living in the Raepen hofje, and the women living in the Bossche hofje. These two buildings are already in constant interaction, nonetheless can they serve as a model for how we will live together in an unstable future?
Ground floor
Current layout of Bossche hofje and Raepenhofje
Axonometric
Implementation of interior panels
Panels allow for a dynamic and flexible space without major changes to the hofje
Panels can fold or unfold according to the necessity of the user
Panels as a division of spaces to create diverse atmospheres
Ground floor (intervention)
Vertical circulation substituted for a spiral staircase giving access to all studios
First floor (intervention)
Stair remains as a shared circulation between apartments
Second floor (intervention)
New vestibule area of the vertical circulation remains the same as in existing layout
Due to the intervention to the veritcal circulation the façade is altered. The doors were moved but the original windows remain in the same place.
To achieve symmetry and coherence in the façade intervention three elements are proposed. First, steel beams are used for the reinforcement of the building. Second, the implementation of a curtain-glass that allows for natural light and visibility of the intervention. Lastly, a copper slate, that will develop an age patina that binds the previous elements together.
The combination of these strategies make these hofjes adapt to a future (not so future) scenario.
They act as an incentive for the residents interaction and resilience.
The interventions in the urban and interior scale, allow both hofjes to interact, adapt and live together in a foreseeable future
Floating garden as new courtyard
The Metropolitan Blue Forum seeks the opportunity to make a valuable contribution for its neighborhood and urban context. The focus of this project lies on the fundamental aspect of the constant interaction between people. These interplays can be active or passive. Active in this case means direct interactions like communication while passive interaction can simply be the observation and recognition of others.
A critical component of the design are the new axes. These routes for pedestrians and bikes enable an improved circulation and more fluid movement through the neighborhood. These paths connect meaningful, site-specific elements, such as the Delftsche Port and the Hofplein to enhance their prominence. The lowering of these courses towards the center of the site is an inviting gesture and draws people into the space.
The width of the street is amplified in the heart of the plot, this square can host various activities such as seating in front of the Hofbogen in a café during the day or bar at night; it can also be used for events, markets and performances. This constant presence of people ensures essential safety and community making.
LEVEL -01
By enabling a -01 level, a fluid connection is established between the four sides of the plot. On this layer there is a direct entrance to the Blue Forum and to the Hofbogen.
LEVEL 01
Pedestrian layer. The Luchtsingel is modified to create a more fluid connection between the Blue Forum, the Hofbogen and the Sponge Garden. The train tracks go underground into the slope of the garden
LEVEL 00
On the ground level the Sponge Garden is spread out which allows for social interaction and retreat, while serving sustainability purposes
LEVEL 02
The second level is the platform of the Blue Forum. It allows an overview of the multiple and complex connection of layers within the site.
The building is held up by a hybrid construction. From the foundation to the first floor, a combined column and disc system is used. The discs in these are cut into the shapes similar to the Hofbogen, leaving an unusual semi-circular skeleton. These simple concrete arches work like a disc and create a regular grid that can be rearranged for every occasion, which allows flexibility in the building’s design. The Exhibition Hall is an example of the latter as it was projected with a double height which creates an imposing atmosphere and can permit change in future designs. This concrete whole lays a strong foundation on which to build further. This is done from the first floor up. Here, a wooden column structure is used. The subsequent floors are held together by a special cassette ceiling. These cassettes are aligned with the façade in such a way that it creates a monolithic whole. Both the concrete and wooden grid construction span a maximum of 10 metres resulting in a flexible building, and by using non-load-bearing walls, it can be divided up according to use.
The Blue Forum seeks to provide the possibility for communication as well as for retreat. A public realm functions successfully if people have a sense of belonging, allowing the realm to turn into a welcoming urban living room.
