El Rodeo Commercial Center

by IVI Arquitectos

© BULLER, Jose BentinyaniETINYANI Oviedo

© BULLER, Jose Bentinyani Oviedo

Architect: Agustín Infante, Carlos Vial y Enrique Ihnen
Collaborator:    Pablo García Melnick
Client:    Inmobiliaria Tres Mares
General Contractor:     Bravo e Izquierdo
Site area:     5.546 m2
Built Area:      6.476 m2
Project Year:      2008
Photographs: Buller, Jose Betinyani Oviedo

La Dehesa is a sector undergoing constant change and adaptation to new purposes. Commerce and services form the current demand.

To comply with client’s requirements, the commercial space area on the ground floor needed to be maximized. In addition, two upper office levels and underground parking had to be created.

As with all works of this nature, official regulations and market requirements make it necessary to exercise great caution in defining the architectural concept. In this case, a building with a strong contemporary play of volumes was proposed, wherein the unit would not be lost among numerous commercial establishments and commercial signs that are commonplace today.

The project sought to reinforce concepts like visibility, accessibility, impulse, surprise, with the aim of luring customers to visit at first sight. A building that’s suggestive and inviting for passers-by, without neglecting harmony and continuity with the prevailing adjacent pedestrian and vehicle traffic.

The volumes, the columns and the arrangement of the roofing respect the tall trees growing in the surroundings. The walkway intends to represent the height, the shadow, the trunks and the action of walking below those trees.

The ground floor’s glass façade is the skin that covers the premises; all the commercial elements, accessories and signs must be placed behind the façade in order to maintain a visual unity. Thus, the architecture intends to control the impact of the obstinate will of commercial advertising.

The upper façade’s is a weave which, like a shadow, projects in its levity the course of the day, the light among the trees and the colors of the night. A double ventilated skin covers and protects the office building from the western sun. The second and third floor offices open up only towards the north and the east, towards the light of the sun and the view of the gardens and the mountain range.

The lighting project of Chinese lanterns of this façade is via LEDs coordinated to create movement, variety and excitement, coinciding with the hours of high commercial flow, intended to attract attention.

The use of micro-perforated Screen Panel allowed for a modulated covering of the façades, easy to replace for repair purposes or changes in the color or the design of the commercial center through alterations in the design of the perforations or material of the panel.

The architecture is the main character. The building is the show itself, not the commercial activity or the invasive marketing.