Distribution by levels. Gallery AAF by S-AR
19/05/2022.
[Monterrey] Mexico
metalocus, CARLOS RUBIO
metalocus, CARLOS RUBIO
AAF Gallery by S-AR is located in the northeast of Mexico, specifically in the capital Monterrey in the state of Nuevo Leon. The city is a growing industrial and commercial centre surrounded by mountains.
The project is composed of different spaces that are distributed in a building of humble dimensions but on three levels. The vertical circulations are on one side, on the side of the party wall. The other side, however, is a courtyard that serves as a light entrance to the building.
The project is composed of different spaces that are distributed in a building of humble dimensions but on three levels. The vertical circulations are on one side, on the side of the party wall. The other side, however, is a courtyard that serves as a light entrance to the building.
Gallery AAF by S-AR. Photograph by Ana Cecilia Garza Villarreal.
Gallery AAF by S-AR. Photograph by Ana Cecilia Garza Villarreal.
Gallery AAF by S-AR. Photograph by Ana Cecilia Garza Villarreal.
Gallery AAF by S-AR. Photograph by Ana Cecilia Garza Villarreal.
Gallery AAF by S-AR. Photograph by Ana Cecilia Garza Villarreal.
Gallery AAF by S-AR. Photograph by Ana Cecilia Garza Villarreal.
Gallery AAF by S-AR. Photograph by Ana Cecilia Garza Villarreal.
Gallery AAF by S-AR. Photograph by Ana Cecilia Garza Villarreal.
Gallery AAF by S-AR. Photograph by Ana Cecilia Garza Villarreal.
Gallery AAF by S-AR. Photograph by Ana Cecilia Garza Villarreal.
Gallery AAF by S-AR. Photograph by Ana Cecilia Garza Villarreal.
Gallery AAF by S-AR. Photograph by Ana Cecilia Garza Villarreal.
Model. Gallery AAF by S-AR. Image courtesy of S-AR.
Model. Gallery AAF by S-AR. Image courtesy of S-AR.
Model. Gallery AAF by S-AR. Image courtesy of S-AR.
Floor plans. Gallery AAF by S-AR. Image courtesy of S-AR.
Sections. Gallery AAF by S-AR. Image courtesy of S-AR.
Façade. Gallery AAF by S-AR. Image courtesy of S-AR.
Façade. Gallery AAF by S-AR. Image courtesy of S-AR.
Axonometry. Gallery AAF by S-AR. Image courtesy of S-AR.
Axonometry. Gallery AAF by S-AR. Image courtesy of S-AR.
AAF Gallery by S-AR is divided into three levels. The first level has as its program space for reading and lectures plus a kitchen to make preparations for exhibition openings. The second level is based on the exhibition areas and the third level is a reading room which also acts as a meeting and administration office.
All the building elements function as artifacts that are attached to a structure, with the potential to provide both thermal and lighting benefits. An example of this can be seen in the side façade which is covered with a ribbed metal skin separated from the wall, providing a thermal barrier.
All the building elements function as artifacts that are attached to a structure, with the potential to provide both thermal and lighting benefits. An example of this can be seen in the side façade which is covered with a ribbed metal skin separated from the wall, providing a thermal barrier.
Description of project by S-AR
This project aims to distribute the gallery spaces in a small three-story building.
The first floor contains a public space for readings and lectures, as well as a kitchen to help prepare exhibition openings. At the rear of this level, a room was created for artist residencies, containing its bathroom and a patio. This level employs a construction system based on unfinished cinder block walls and steel deck slabs on white-painted IPR beams. The enclosures are made specifically for this building from wood, aluminum, glass, and metal mesh.
The second level is the open-plan exhibition area intended to display a range of artworks and interventions. This level has walls finished in plaster, white paint, and a reticular reinforced concrete slab with coffered formwork that was left exposed.
On the third floor, a reading room also serves as an office and meeting room. This space is clad with strips of pine wood and a ceiling slab of exposed, bare concrete.
The gallery is crowned with an open-air patio that also serves as a lookout point when the metal doors enclosing it are opened.
All these spaces are positioned at the center of the plot, leaving the vertical circulation routes on the side of the adjacent property boundary, while the other side forms a lateral patio letting light into the ground floor. This establishes a contrast with the dark ambiance of the circulation block, where the staircases form single flights: a concrete stair in the first section and a timber stair in the second.
The upper levels receive daylight from the short sides of the volume, through folding doors that can be adjusted to provide more or less light and privacy, and also form the front and rear façades.
The south-facing lateral wall is clad with corrugated metal to provide a thermal barrier to solar gain. Combined with the polystyrene-filled blocks used in the walls, this helps to keep interiors fresh during the city’s warmest months.
Taken together, these construction, layout, and finishing elements serve as artifacts added to the basic structure to provide the building with specific advantages in terms of thermal comfort, light, and appearance.
More information
Architects
S-AR Lead architect.- César Guerrero, Ana Cecilia Garza.
Collaborators
Carlos Morales, Marisol González.
Structure.- CM Ingeniería.
Technical inspection of the work.- S-AR + Gonzalo Tamez.
Materials.- Concrete, Steel, Wood and Glass.
Structure.- CM Ingeniería.
Technical inspection of the work.- S-AR + Gonzalo Tamez.
Materials.- Concrete, Steel, Wood and Glass.
Builder
Gonzalo Tamez + Enrique López.
Area
234 sqm.
Dates
Project year - 2014.
Year of construction - 2020.
Year of construction - 2020.
Location
Monterrey, Mexico.
Photography
Ana Cecilia Garza Villarreal.
César Guerrero, Ana Cecilia Garza. S-AR
S-AR is an architectural design studio based in Mexico (Monterrey and Mexico City) led by architects César Guerrero and Ana Cecilia Garza.
Their work focuses on the design and development of architectural projects of several scales and typologies from private, experimental and social houses to architectural installations, educational buildings and design of furniture and other objects including books and independent publications about architecture.
S-AR´s work has been awarded the Emerging Voices Award by The Architectural League of New York (New York, U.S.A., 2016), the Design Vanguard Award by Architectural Record for emerging architects (New York, U.S.A., 2013), the Dwell Design Award by Dwell Magazine for the Best Dwelling (San Francisco, U.S.A., 2020), the Blueprint Award by Blueprint Magazine for the Best Small Project (London, U.K., 2020) and the 1st. Place in the XXI Cemex Building National Award 2012 (Mexico, 2012). They received the Young Artists Grant “Jovenes Creadores” CONACULTA – FONCA (Arts and Culture Mexican Council, Mexico, 2009) and they were part of the exhibition Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling at MoMA – Museum of Modern Art (New York, U.S.A., 2007). The studio received an Award of Merit in the 2020 AZ Awards (Toronto, Canada, 2020) and an Honorable Mention in the AN Best of Design Awards by The Architect´s Newspaper (New York, U.S.A., 2020). S-AR has been nominated for the 2014 Ibero-American Architecture Biennial Award (Rosario, Argentina, 2014) and for the 2019 Ibero-American Architecture Biennial Award (Asuncion, Paraguay, 2019), and selected -Emerging Designer- in the Present for the Arts in Mexico by La Tempestad Magazine of Arts (Mexico, 2014), selected to represent Mexico in the BAL – Latin-American Biennial of Architecture (Mexico – Spain – LATAM, 2015) and selected to be part of the Mexico´s Pavilion in the 15 and 16 Mostra Internazionale di Architettura di Venezia – 15th and 16th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale (Mexico – Italy, 2016 / 2018).
Their work focuses on the design and development of architectural projects of several scales and typologies from private, experimental and social houses to architectural installations, educational buildings and design of furniture and other objects including books and independent publications about architecture.
S-AR´s work has been awarded the Emerging Voices Award by The Architectural League of New York (New York, U.S.A., 2016), the Design Vanguard Award by Architectural Record for emerging architects (New York, U.S.A., 2013), the Dwell Design Award by Dwell Magazine for the Best Dwelling (San Francisco, U.S.A., 2020), the Blueprint Award by Blueprint Magazine for the Best Small Project (London, U.K., 2020) and the 1st. Place in the XXI Cemex Building National Award 2012 (Mexico, 2012). They received the Young Artists Grant “Jovenes Creadores” CONACULTA – FONCA (Arts and Culture Mexican Council, Mexico, 2009) and they were part of the exhibition Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling at MoMA – Museum of Modern Art (New York, U.S.A., 2007). The studio received an Award of Merit in the 2020 AZ Awards (Toronto, Canada, 2020) and an Honorable Mention in the AN Best of Design Awards by The Architect´s Newspaper (New York, U.S.A., 2020). S-AR has been nominated for the 2014 Ibero-American Architecture Biennial Award (Rosario, Argentina, 2014) and for the 2019 Ibero-American Architecture Biennial Award (Asuncion, Paraguay, 2019), and selected -Emerging Designer- in the Present for the Arts in Mexico by La Tempestad Magazine of Arts (Mexico, 2014), selected to represent Mexico in the BAL – Latin-American Biennial of Architecture (Mexico – Spain – LATAM, 2015) and selected to be part of the Mexico´s Pavilion in the 15 and 16 Mostra Internazionale di Architettura di Venezia – 15th and 16th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale (Mexico – Italy, 2016 / 2018).
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