AS Building in Mérida, Yucatán designed|Office

The Mérida-based architectural firm AS Arquitectura designed ''AS Building'' a mixed-use building that located in Mérida the vibrant capital of the Mexican state of Yucatán.

Architect's statement: The project consists of a 240 sqm oﬃce building. The requirements were three premises for rent and the oﬃces of an architectural practice. The ﬁeld of 15 x 20 meters in a corner forced the building to be compacted in order to leave enough area for parking required. A building in 3 levels was proposed, the ground ﬂoor is occupied by the rent premises and the parking area, and the other two plantsbelong to the oﬃces of the ﬁrm.

One of the major challenges in designing this mixed-use building was to achieve the harmony between two elements of different needs. Because of their gender, the ﬁrm needed to project a strong image with character, and the premises, being for rent, required a moderate investment.

The general concept of the project was to work with a white prism that unfolds itself. This prism is wall free and includes the working areas(rental area in the ground ﬂoor and workshop and meeting rooms in the upper levels). An apparent concrete cube is embedded in theprism. This cube, which is more closed, includes the service area and the reception. In this way the creative spaces are emphasized in thefree areas, more opened and brighter, where ideas ﬂow.

image © Rolando Córdoba

The premises for rent were located with a view to the south, where is the busiest street. Access to the oﬃce was placed in the corner onWest Street. This same entrance to the oﬃce, with a triple high, is developed in two stages: a steel stairway that ﬂoats above a stonegarden and rests in a cantilever, and after the landing, an apparent concrete stair, that ends in a window that overlooks to the sky and islocated in the lobby that gives access to the oﬃce reception.

The oﬃce is organized in two levels. The ﬁrst level contains the reception, bathrooms, kitchen, warehouse and workshop. At 2nd level islocated a private room and a boardroom. At the reception, which is contained in the gray cube, opens a window that allows visualamplitude and frank relationship with the outside, allowing light to bathe walls and ﬂoors and give diﬀerent shades to gray concretedepending on the time of day. The gray concrete spans the entire reception area, bathrooms and kitchen, on walls, ﬂoors and ceiling,and combined with wood coatings and doors, creates a contemporary and warm atmo- sphere.

The workshop area, which is the heart of the oﬃce, is a double-height space that opens onto a balcony terrace. The window overlookingthe terrace allows having natural light and avoids artiﬁcial lighting must part of the day, in addition to having a choice of naturalventilation. Through this glass wall the workshop extends to the exterior and integrates with it.

The terrace becomes the social area when there is an event and also functions as a rest area on days of intense work. The private roomlocated on the 2nd level opens to the workshop area through the mezzanine, visually integrating these two areas and allowing thisoﬃce to enjoy the spaciousness of double height and the visual to the balcony.

As for the ﬁnishes, stucco walls painted white and walls ﬁnished in gray cement were used. All interior ﬂoors are made of gray polishedcement and the exterior ﬂoors are made of white chiseled cement. In stairways and interior doors light wood was used in order to helplighting spaces and large clear windows were also used for greater integration with the outside areas.

The furniture is in concrete and wood. The desks are replaced with concrete plateaus and the other oﬃce furniture, part of the ﬁrmdesigns, are in light and dark wood in order to achieve contrasts and integration with the wood used in the rest of the oﬃce.

The building appears as the image of the ﬁrm, with a contemporary and simple design that represents the oﬃce living it and allows usersto enjoy working areas with a large spatiality.

image © Roberto Cárdenas