Office for Metropolitan Architecture has designed what will be the tallest tower in Latin America, to be built in the centre of Mexico City.
The 300m tall Torre Bicentenario (Bicentenary Tower) will be completed in time for the 200th anniversary of Mexico’s independence in 2010.
Below is OMA’s press release:
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OMA designs Torre Bicentenario for Mexico City, tallest tower of Latin America
(Mexico City, July 24th, 2007): Groupo Danhos has commissioned the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) to design Torre Bicentenario in the centre of Mexico City. The tower will become the tallest of Latin America and will be completed in 2010, the 200th anniversary of Mexico’s Independence.
The building is to accommodate 160,000 m2 of office space, a convention centre, site museum and gym as well as retail and restaurants. In addition a 170,000 m2 public parking garage is part of the project.
The 300 meter tall building will be located at the intersection of Reforma and Anillo Perife�?rico, on the northeast corner of Mexico City’s Chapultepec Park, home to the Presidential residence.
The tower is envisaged as a symbol of the Bicentenario, 2010, the 200th anniversary of Mexico’s Independence and the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution.
The high-rise is conceived by the stacking of two pyramidal forms. This produces a form that is at once familiar yet unique. At the junction of the two pyramids, a sky lobby acts as the transfer point between shuttles and local elevators. This space will offer extensive views over the park and the city beyond.
Two voids penetrate the building at its widest point providing ventilation and natural light. Whilst traditional high-rises tend to internalize this feature with an atrium, the Torre Bicentenario, projects it onto the facade cutting into the building. A pattern of reflective glass panels covering 50% of the interior surface maximizes light penetration. The void twists at its midpoint, opening at the bottom toward the park and at the top toward the city, connecting the building to its surroundings.
The two districts adjacent to the Torre Bicentenario, Las Lomas and Polanco, are separated by a major highway. To provide a link between them, a new pedestrian bridge is proposed establishing a shortcut reconnecting formerly disengaged sections of the park and the city.
Groupo DANHOS is one of the largest real estate development companies in Mexico. During the last three decades it has developed residential, corporate and shopping center projects. Grupo DANHOS is currently concluding a mixed-use development desinged by Teodoro Gonza�?lez de
Leo�?n which is to be the largest and most visible project in Mexico City.
At OMA, the Bicentenario project is lead by partner Rem Koolhaas and Shohei Shigematsu who is the director of OMA New York. Their previous collaborations include the design of the Whitney Museum Extension in NYC, the China Central Television Headquarters Building in Beijing, the Shenzen Stock Exchange, the Millstein Hall for Cornell University, Ithaca, NY and a hotel and residential highrise at 111 First Street in Jersey City, NJ.