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UNASUR General Secretary Headquarters

Institutional project in San Antonio de Pichincha, Ecuador. 20,000 m². Built. First place, public competition, 2010.

UNASUR General Secretary Headquarters: dusk exterior of a large cantilevered building with a dark glass upper volume over a pale stone base, with mountains at left

Facts of the board

Type
Institutional
Place
San Antonio de Pichincha, Ecuador
Area
20,000 m²
Status
Builtas stated on the 2015 site, to be confirmed
Design competition
First place 2010
Photography
Sebastián Crespo

Pending from the studio: year, client.

Project statement

The project is located in the Ciudad Mitad del Mundo Complex, 14 km north of the capital city, on a 20,000 m² plot. Formally it is a massive piece that, by contrast, rises and projects as a metaphor of freedom, and its base is a large public plaza, offered not only for the proposal itself but as a gesture of respect and a contribution to the immediate surroundings. The building has been designed with a sculptural connotation, to surprise and to present a different image depending on where it is seen from. Volumetrically, the new building rises in a U shape bounded by three virtual axes.

I always dreamed of a project of sober aesthetic creativity and technology exported from Ecuador and the region to the world. It is important to note that the building also has the largest cantilevered truss in South America (55 meters without supports). The results of the structure: a positive system, purpose and a strong iconic image.

Translated from the studio's Spanish for this concept; pending the studio's review.

UNASUR General Secretary Headquarters: dusk exterior of a large cantilevered building with a dark glass upper volume over a pale stone base, with mountains at left
UNASUR General Secretary Headquarters: dusk exterior of a large cantilevered building with a dark glass upper volume over a pale stone base, with mountains at left. Photography: Sebastián Crespo

From this board

Interpretive model of the UNASUR headquarters: the truss through the glass, in a frame of the assemblyThe model, on the home page

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