Monte Elbruz Building in Polanco, Ciudad de Mexico by Garduño Arquitectos

The Monte Elbruz Building project is located in a difficult area which originally classified as high-density and fully developed, adjoining buildings 14 to 30 stories high. There were regulations change when the project was being designed: the limitation considered a maximum of six levels plus a roof garden.

From the project brief, the density requirements-24 units, 164 sq. meters, designing a linear façade on a 1,300 sq. meter surface and 30 meter long, would lead to 60 per cent of the apartments having interior view. With those variables, architect opted for designing two side blocks within a 60 cm. distance of the borders. That creates a central courtyard to play the role of green area, access and lighting center, but that would also generate facades proportioned in terms of the project's scale.

The individual program consists of 164 sq. meters, with two bedrooms, 3 and a half bathrooms, studio, dining-living room, kitchen, and service quarters, all surrounding an interior, six meter-high hall/family room. The program is completed by a common area, with gym and swimming pool at the basement 1 level.

The front façade boasts two slim vertical concrete sand-colored beams separated by the volume containing the home. These pieces were cast with a double concrete face and marble grain. They were later finished with a marteline, bringing out a tree that begins with the trunk at the level of the first beam and continues the trace in the second one. These beams, that seem to float from the façade, become a parapet present throughout the building's perimeter and returning to the front under the form of a slab.

Architects: Garduño Arquitectos
Site Area: 1,100 sqm
Constructed Area: 6,300 sqm
Structural Design: Diseño y Supervisión S.C.
Contractor: BICYQ Construcciones
Photographs: Sófocles Hernández, Paul Czitrom