Reforma Towers / Richard Meier & Partners + Diametro Arquitectos

Design Principals: Richard Meier, Bernhard Karpf
Project Manager: Ringo Offermann
Project Architect: David Ricardo Davila
Associate Architect: Diametro Arquitectos

A glistening white mixed-use scheme is destined to grace the Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City, a significant thoroughfare that splices the city in two. The new face on this bustling street is a two-pronged development by Richard Meier & Partners and Diametro Arquitectos entitled Reforma Towers.

Design Principals: Richard Meier, Bernhard Karpf
Project Manager: Ringo Offermann
Project Architect: David Ricardo Davila
Associate Architect: Diametro Arquitectos

A glistening white mixed-use scheme is destined to grace the Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City, a significant thoroughfare that splices the city in two. The new face on this bustling street is a two-pronged development by Richard Meier & Partners and Diametro Arquitectos entitled Reforma Towers.

While the design retains the strong aesthetic flair of Richard Meier & Partners, its design features are deeply rooted in the history and architectural legacy of Mexico City. David Cherem Ades, Project Principal from Diametro Arquitectos details: “Designing the Reforma Towers in the most important avenue of Mexico City was an exciting challenge.

“The design integrates the city and landscape with the buildings. Its transparency and open areas blend the exterior with the interior spaces enhancing the user’s experience of the city and natural elements.”

As referenced here by Cherem Ades, the scheme is highly transparent with generous panes of glass installed throughout to enable natural light to penetrate deep into the interior spaces. A central void has been carved into the taller of the two towers to enhance internal natural light and natural ventilation.

The taller tower will be 40 storeys in height and include high-end offices, retail outlets, restaurants, a fitness centre and parking facilities while the shorter tower, 27 storeys high, will be home to a hotel. The two towers are to be joined at the base.

Bernhard Karpf, Design Partner-in-charge, comments: “At the centre of development there is a central void, an Urban Courtyard, in the main tower which is a celebration of space, form and light. Natural light will filter through the void between the office modules providing for particularly animated light conditions.

“We have designed the surface and the volumes of the towers to take advantage of natural light, changes of scale and views to the city.”