This project offers an interesting reflection on how to improve the quality of work in office spaces, how to control light and interior spatial comfort. The building, dedicated to commercial use and offices, consists of two basements, a lower floor, a mezzanine, six standard floors, a penthouse, and an attic; it is built on a corner lot measuring 665 m 2. General access is via an ample entry on the ground floor and the mezzanine, thus obtaining a larger area for retail uses with direct access to the street. The entry foyer makes use of the textures of the materials and sheets of water for its composition. Originally it was partially open to the street, but over time it was completely enclosed, and the water was replaced with river stones due to maintenance problems. A sculptural relief by Jose Luis Sanchez, two stories high, is hung on the lobby s facade as an element separating it from the retail spaces; this work also penetrates the lobby, giving the building a sense of volume.

The office floors were designed as completely diaphanous and ready for posterior subdivision in offices, landscape office layouts or mixed systems. The penthouse floor is recessed two meters from the facades, with a continuous perimeter terrace. The design of the facade emerged from an extremely careful study of solar protection, orienting openings to northern light. The opaque planes are finished in white marble and reflect light into the interior, creating a level of natural light that is uniform and of an elevated graduation. The transparent planes are curtain walls of anodized aluminum framing and floor-to-ceiling panes of untinted glass. The use of angled planes gives the facade a lively and changing plasticity, in which it shifts from total opaqueness to a maximum transparency. The structure, of large spans, is potently evident on all the floors. In the penthouse, the supports along the windows are inclined due to the recessed facades and finished in exposed concrete. The roof was resolved with an angled skirting finished in slate and gravel-covered terrace. Estudio Lamela has been located in this building since 1966.