Mexico's Gold Mine

Jeff Roberts , June 17th, 2009

Ten thousand miles from the Gulf’s harsh sun and shortages of water and energy, SPACE Architects + Planners designs Latin America’s first LEED Gold building to address the very same challenges

Answering a call for ‘The Best Building in Latin America’, Chicago’s SPACE Architects + Planners didn’t hesitate when asked by Mexico City developer Diimx to design and build Efizia Tower to a standard of green building never before seen south of the Rio Grande.

The request came as little surprise to Juan Carlos Baumgartner, managing director of SPACE’s Mexico City office, as Diimx is well known throughout the country for building cutting-edge residential and commercial properties.

“Group president Andres Flores chose a younger, avant garde firm in SPACE to bring new ideas, imagination and flexibility that would meet the demands of a Mexico City government whose plan is to reach ‘global city’ level in new development,” explains Diimx’s Philip Mondragon.

Despite its clean and green philosophy, the site Diimx chose for SPACE’s eco-friendly Efizia Tower, was located directly in the centre of one of the city’s most historically rundown areas. Located in the Santa Fe district, the site used to have little in the way of context besides dilapidated living/training quarters for the long defunct Triple A wrestling federation, some sand mines and a garbage dump. It seems, however, that this is changing.
 
“This area of the city only started to develop about 20 years ago,” explains Kai Diederichsen of Luz en Arquitectura, lighting consultant on Efizia Tower. “Before that, it was an abandoned area.” 

Today, however, things in the Santa Fe district are much different. After a three-phase government initiative to encourage building modernisation, the Efizia Tower site is surrounded by several projects that will become office, residential and retail spaces serving the city’s burgeoning business and leisure markets.

The transition of the neighbourhood can be largely credited to the foresight of  Diimx—with considerable help from the Mexican government—whose development strategy was always to build a tower fit for an international occupier that would raise the profile of Santa Fe as a credible and promising business district.

Regarding context, Diederichsen thinks Efizia Tower is right on the mark. “Once it’s finished, the height, density and population of the building will respond very closely to the surrounding buildings.”



THE ARCHITECTURE

Although unfinished—completion is expected in 2012—the design of the Efizia Tower recently caught the eye of international critics in winning a commendation at the 2009 Architectural Review Futures Projects Awards in Cannes.
 
The well articulated design comprises 33 floors featuring floor plates of 2,000 m². All tolled, the total built area is approximately 66,000 m² and is made up of retail space on the ground and first floors, with offices occupying all of the higher levels. 

The podium level architecture creates a public plaza at the entrance to the building, which allows the building to integrate with the city and vice versa.

The way in which the building will function is as much a testament to its intelligent architecture as is its unique cladding or building-block design. For SPACE, the essence of Efizia’s architecture is based on the building’s level of eco-friendliness, responsiveness to its context and the degree to which it can set a new standard in Mexico and the whole of Latin America.   

“In general, architecture uses a great amount of natural resources—the use of water and energy, as well as the emission of toxic gases will last for decades,” explains Diederichsen. “In Mexico, there are thousands of buildings that were built in the last century and adhere to other standards. Even today, they are consuming up to 10 times more energy and resources than modern buildings. Consequently, modern architecture needs to be up-to-date and aggressive in matters of eco-friendly design. It is our responsibility.”

THE DESIGN

Mixing together its long history of interior design with an intuitive loyalty to function over form, SPACE designs its projects according to its ‘inside-out approach’. “We view the external architecture as a shell for protecting the internal space from what is happening outside, hence ensuring that the building is fit for purpose and designed for occupation,” explains Baumgartner. “We design from the inside-out and the shell is the result of everything else”.

“What makes this a unique approach is that the architects designed an ideal interior. From there they ‘dressed’ the building with the right suit to make it as efficient as possible,” adds Diederichsen. “This project has the potential to bring about a new trend in building design in Mexico.”

Moreover, SPACE employs what can only be considered a remarkable and revolutionary integrated design approach. Put simply, this is a collaborative method of design that includes a completely interdisciplinary team, made up of consultants and stakeholders that have myriad interests in the building’s ultimate design.   

Conventional building design usually involves a series of handovers from owner to architect, architect to builder and builder to occupant. This path generally fails to consider the needs, expertise or insights from all stakeholders from the beginning of the planning process.
 
Often times, using the conventional method of concept design, incompatible elements of the design go undiscovered until late in the process when sheer costs preclude any major changes to design. At that stage, changes either happen, and the building is delayed, or they don’t happen, and the building moves forward with unchecked or ignored mistakes. To combat this scenario, SPACE has drawn on the knowledge base of more than 25 consultants in Efizia Tower.



THE GREEN ELEMENTS

Having obtained a LEED Gold standard at the pre-certification stage, SPACE has several initiatives in place to ensure that, once finished, the built Efizia can actually attain that certification. 

Mexico City has long suffered from an insufficient water supply, which is compounded by a rudimentary water infrastructure system in the places water does exist. Due to the growing water crisis, architects and developers in Mexico have to design and commission buildings that find innovative ways to harness and protect the city’s precious water supply. 

Rain water collection technology has been included in the initial design of Efizia. Mexico City receives between 0.18 and 8.22 cm of water per month, which means that once this technology is functioning properly, Efizia’s dependency on municipal water will be reduced by 70%.

THE FACADE DESIGN

The building’s dual facade is constructed of double glazed glass and a unique stainless steel mesh that reduces stress on the HVAC system and balances the use of natural and artificial light. When functioning in concert, the glass/mesh facade will be able to reduce energy consumption by approximately 37%. 

“I was asked to focus on lighting design, so the challenge was special: Reduce energy use by 15% and set the standard for an efficient daylight harvesting system for the new tenants; all this together with an ideal U-value for the developed facade system,” explains Diederichsen. “We had the biggest area on the western facade, which can be more challenging than the southern facade, due to solar position in our latitudes.” 

Together with SPACE, Diederichsen developed the two-layer system in order to get the best solar protection for the most critical hours of the day, while still allowing an almost direct view from inside out.

The duo created a ‘skin’ that contained high VL transmission glass, which means a very efficient U-value for the integrated facade system, which will ultimately reduce solar gain and utilise stored daylight.   

THE RECYCLABLE MATERIALS

In choosing materials, SPACE sought only those that were low in volatile organic compounds (VOCs)—paint, carpet backing, plastics and wood preservatives have been avoided—as they can affect users by contributing to sick building syndrome.

Moreover, approximately 10% of the raw materials that will be used in the construction of the building will be local to the region; and around 30% of those materials will be made up of recycled content.



THE DAWN OF A NEW DAY

At present, Mexican authorities are developing green standards to change the way buildings in the country are designed and built but, as yet, none exist. At the moment, there are no incentives to encourage green development, which means the onus of change rests with the private sector. 

Much like countries in the Gulf, if multinational companies are to invest in places like Mexico, Dubai or Abu Dhabi, local developers must be able to provide a standard of green-ness that is comparable to those of more mature markets.

“Through sustainable design, overall costs will eventually be considerably less than traditional costs,” says Mondragon. “Rents may be higher in the beginning but quality firms will find cost/benefit advantages in the short term.”

According to Diederichsen, support for building green is coming not just from the building community, but end users themselves.  “More and more clients are beginning to understand the importance of eco-friendly architecture,” he says. “This project is the proof that sustainable and green buildings can be done without resigning oneself to ultramodern and powerful architecture.”

The pressure to deliver those sustainable designs now rests firmly on the shoulders of the building community.

Whether we talk about the Gulf or Latin America, places that deal with an abundance of sunlight, energy shortages and limited fresh water must focus their resources on efficient energy use, water treatment and waste management.

If not, these multimillion-dollar buildings face the very real possibility of having to be stripped down and refitted with eco-friendly technologies once that inevitable green legislation reaches their districts.

TEAM
Design architect: SPACE Architects + Planners, Juan Carlos Baumgartner
Project manager: Alfonso Belmar
Design consultant: Javier Alvarez Gomez Tostado
Structural engineer: CTC Ingenieros
Mechanical engineer: DYPRO
Façade engineer: Aluvisa
Fire protection: JPR
Lighting design: Luz en Arquitectura
Audio visual: Omar Saad

STATS
Total building area (in m²): 138,600 m²
Underground parking area (in m² ): 74,400 m²
Subterranean levels: 8
Storeys: 32
Levels of podium: 1
Percentage of residential: 0%
Percentage of commercial: 95% 
Percentage of retail: 5%
Building status: Pre-construction (2012)
Total cost: US $100 million