Farmacias del Ahorro HQ
Designed by Mass Operations, Corporativo Farmacias del Ahorro is located in Monterrey, Mexico. The office describes the project as follows:
The project begins with the request for a "tower" for our client's new corporate headquarters. Upon analyzing the site and program, it became clear that a vertical solution here would be a mistake, resulting in a large facade facing the west with a disjointed interior. By illustrating this, we convinced our client to opt for a well-connected horizontal development that opens up to the light of the north and protects from the west.
In this way, the project is the result of a series of urban and programmatic considerations, from the city to the user. At the urban level, the building responds to its delimitation, sunlight, and views of the Huasteca. At the programmatic level, the project understands that only one team will be working together in it, and therefore responds with a strategy of minimal floors and maximum connectivity.
The connectivity strategy is developed through a sequence of ramps, bridges, and staircases that begin outside the building and culminate in green areas on its roof. From the sidewalk, pedestrians are presented with a ramp intertwined in a staircase-shaped garden that ascends to a plaza sheltered from the west and illuminated by the north. Inside the building, the lobby continues this strategy, presenting a staircase that crosses a space for spontaneous encounters. The general arrangement of the project, bifurcated to receive the light from the north, is connected through bridges that travel from east to west.
In summary, the form and function of the project can be reduced to a series of operations: — Grow horizontally, not vertically. — Protect west and south facades. — Bifurcate the floor plan to receive north light. — Connect through staircases, ramps, and bridges, generating spaces for spontaneous collaboration.