LASER CUT

This was a very interesting work, first of all, it was a great introduction to digtal fabrication, and actually to using rhino as a design tool.

IAAC 2007-2008 Digital Fabrication

Supervisors: Marta Male-Alemany

Authors: Rodrigo Langarica, Mariana Paz Castellanos

MAPPING LAS RAMBLAS

Our map focuses on opportunities for future development of cultural shopping. Cultural hotspots have been identified within the old-city, providing an underlying base for existing cultural activity. Three and six minute walking radii have been calculated from each of these hotsposts, with MACBA receiving an additional nine minute radius as it offers an emerging cultural precinct.

Areas of greater colour intensity offer a better prospect of developing new cultural shopping environments. Metro stations are shaded blue and when overlapping with cultural hotsposts, offer possible magnification of success.

IAAC 2007-2008 Mapping I
Supervisors: Ferran Grau
Authors: Pete Booth, Higinio Llames, Mariana Paz Castellanos

HOW TO DESIGN A TREE?

This project was based on the idea of studying a tree from the Ciutadella park in Barcelona in all its levels. From there we delivered a project based on the specific characteristics of the tree, the Quercus Ilex. The result was a resting space which would eventually serve as a water collector to be placed in the areas of the park which where not prepared to collect water. The whole project was a reflexion on the traits of our tree.

At first we created a 3D model of the tree with real dimensions, then we studied the path of the bark and inverted it creating a network system that configures the surface. This pattern gave us the direction of the model, since the overall shape follows one of the real sections of the tree the pattern configures the walkable and joints surface.

IAAC 2007-2008 Final Research Studio I

Supervisors: Vincente Guallart, Willy Müller, Marta M. Alemany

Authors: Rodrigo Langarica, Mariana Paz Castellanos

MONTECASINO 3

The building consists of 10 apartments where small and large apartments throughout it with 2 two-leveled penthouses. Right in the corner the building comes to an end with the help of terraces which open views and enhance the close angle of the piece of land. On the other hand the back façade is more closed because it is home to the private and service areas of the apartments. The main access to the building is marked by a concrete slab which extends from the limits of the building to the sidewalk, making it possible to preserve the building as a loose volume.

Vertical connections become aligned with the buildings main access, within the middle of each floor, making way to each apartment to have full access either from the elevator or the stairway, having a panoramic view to the outside. Every apartment has very high ceilings, which in addition to the openness of the façade provoke a feeling of expansion of the inner space beyond the physical limits of the building.

The north and east façade are more open, and composed by vertical concrete elements placed without a specific order. In the middle of these elements a green surface is created by a group of cables which allow climbing vines to grow from metallic bases located in some of the stories of the building. The south and west facades are more closed, creating an almost chaotic window-wall giving strength to its verticality.

HIGUERA + SANCHEZ 2004 -2007 Works

MONTECASINO 3, Col.Molino del Rey, Mexico City

Arq. Javier Sánchez Corral

Project Director/Architectural On-site Supervision: Mariana Paz Castellanos

Collaborators: Diana Elizalde, Juan Manuel Soler

Pictures: Mariana Paz, Jair Navarrete

VILLA HOLBOX

The island Holbox is located in the Yucatan Peninsula. Situated within a few meters from a National Park the project is a Self – Sufficient villa for 10 people. The project integrates a water treatment plant, wind power generators and solar panels. At the same time all the covered area from the cells it is used to collect water rain.

The materials try to create a minor ecological impact on the island. From the main structure of the arbor to the palapa’s structure are completely developed with bamboo – guada and covered with palm’s trees leaves. The orientation from each cell is directly related to the wind incidence creating spaces with natural crossed ventilations and protecting it from the hurricane season.

The Project is articulated by an arbor that is covering all the circulations creating a system that is protected from the sun incidence but at the same time remains opened to the exterior. The terraces are nothing more than the top of the arbor which increases the inner space from each cell. The project is suspended from the natural terrain 1mt, which helps to protect it from flooding during the rainy season. The founding also functions as a rain water storage which provides enough water during the whole year. This project will be culminated by the end of 2009.

HIGUERA + SANCHEZ 2004 -2007 Works
VILLA HOLBOX, Holbox, Yucatan

Arq. Javier Sánchez Corral

Project Director: Mariana Paz Castellanos
Collaborators: Diana Elizalde, Juan Manuel Soler
Renders: Mariana Paz Castellanos

External advisors: Raul de Villafranca, Arturo Romero

Villa Holbox-Reforma Entremuros Dic 2007

VERACRUZ 60

The Condesa and the Roma neighborhoods form an area that has been regenerated in this past years due to new buildings and remodeling activities. This is precisely the area in which this project is located. The front facade works with the use of mobile panels that serve as a protection for the windows, creating a dynamic plane made out of openings and walls, while the back of the building is much more static and has less openings offers privacy to the rooms of each apartment.

The building houses 5 apartments with inverted schemes, allowing a two-story high space in all the public areas. An elevator stands in the middle of the building, that with the incorporation of the stairs form the vertical circulations. This configuration makes a difference in the condition of each space without sacrificing any of the apartments keeping the building within the limits of the height allowed in the area.
HIGUERA + SANCHEZ 2004 -2007 Works
VERACRUZ 60, Col. Roma Norte, Mexico City
Arq. Javier Sánchez Corral

Project Director/Model: Mariana Paz Castellanos
Collaborators: Juan Manuel Soler
Renders: Alejandro Ita

DANTE 7

Located in the Colonia Anzures, in Mexico City, this project takes advantage of the lot’s rectangulargeometry, placing 2 volumes divided by an internal patio which opens in an irregular way from one side to the other.The two buildings are connected through a bridge that contains the vertical circulations. The complex consists of 17 apartments in a mixture of duplexes and triplexes which combine terraces and inner patios. The project takes advantage of the lot’s geometry creating a cut in the front building enclosed by a black concrete wall which combines its structural properties with the composition of the facade.

Interior facades relate by the combination of solids and openings which respond to the interiors. The closed figure in the facade covers two apartments which find ventilation and light through an enclosed terrace that divides the space between the building and the concrete wall. Each and every window emphasizes onprivacy avoiding the same positioning throughout the facade, even in the cases where this seems inevitable, where windows find a screen made from various materials, like louvers, or white glass, which allow natural light avoiding crossed views.

HIGUERA + SANCHEZ 2004 -2007 Works

DANTE 7, Col. Anzures, Mexico City

Arq. Javier Sánchez Corral

Project Director: Mariana Paz Castellanos

Collaborators: Diana Elizalde, Ana Luna, Enrique Salazar, Daniela Sainz, Juan M Soler

Renders: Alejandro Ita

SPORTS CENTER SMR

Inside Mexico City, right in the limit between Santa Maria la Rivera and Atlampa, we proposed a Sports Center to act as a trigger to rebuild an industrial area such as Atlampa and as urban equipment for SMR(Santa Maria la Rivera). The Sports Center consists of three main volumes where various sport activities occur, an underground parking space, and a commercial area in its ground floor. The open plan works as a transitional space between the two neighborhoods.The building develops in such a way that one of the main volumes houses all the courts the second houses multi-purpose spaces for different activities, and the last contains all the services and vertical circulations.

A system of ramps connects the building in its vertical axis, adding richness to the southern facade,creating a circuit of continuous circulation that stops in each level. These ramps are hung by a series of self-supporting frameworks. This facade is covered by a tran lucid colored glass which gives a graphic character to the building, making it recognizable as a vital complex to the area.

The east façade of the building is composed by a concrete wall with irregular shapes which works both as a climbing wall for both sides and as a firm structure the entire building lengthwise. The facades use a system of multi-perforated panels with serigraphy, which help to filter light and to regulate the interior temperature. This serigraphy composes the façades, giving a graphic image to the building which purpose is to make an impact on the area. The façade is made up of a system that allows it to work independent to the main structure making it light, allowing the building to become transparent.

ITESM 1999-2004 School Works SPORTS CENTER SMR Santa Maria la Rivera - Atlampa – Mexico City Final course project Germán Báez - Mariana Paz - Roberto Ortega

ARTS AND CRAFTS SCHOOL-SITE MUSEUM TLATELOLCO

This project represents a proposal for regaining value in this particular area of the city through an Arts and Crafts School and a Site Museum. The access runs throughout the archeological site, enhancing a line that crosses to the Plaza de las Tres Culturas. The school is conceived as a three story building with workshops and studios in the ground level, where these spaces converge into a multiple purpose plaza in the back side of the building. The Site Museum stands over the plaza with a figure that opens slowly towards the outside.

The facade works a second skin, made of a metallic multi perforated surface that allows light in, while it adds texture to the forms and helps the building to merge with its environment. This double facade system allows natural lightning and ventilation to the school as well as the museum, without a major impact to the forms.

ITESM 1999-2004 School Works ARTS AND CRAFTS SCHOOL – SITE MUSEUM TLATELOLCO Tlatelolco – Mexico City Architectural Workshop VI Mariana Paz - Roberto Ortega