Citica

Designed with Ibarra Aragón Arquitectura, Citica is a 25-story mixed-use project that transformed an abandoned lot into a vibrant center for living and working in the heart of Monterrey. The development is situated on Avenida Venustiano Carranza, a major thoroughfare connecting the city of Monterrey and the nearby municipality of San Pedro Garza García. Located two miles from the city center (El Centro), Citica is intended to serve as a catalyst for a municipal plan to provide pedestrian improvements to major transit corridors radiating from downtown Monterrey.

In line with the project’s larger purpose, the architects’ first priority was the creation of a pedestrian-friendly experience that would enhance the level of activity at the street. Situated on a polygonal corner site with an elongated street frontage, the bottom two floors of the development contain shops and restaurants that spill out onto a landscaped public pedestrian promenade shaded by a screen composed of steel tubes cut at random lengths and supported by interlaced vertical supports.

Wrapping a six-level parking garage above the commercial base, the tube steel screen is a unifying architectural element that screens the garage and shades the retail spaces while allowing in natural light. Rather than treating the trellis as purely decorative, the architects viewed the element as an opportunity to accentuate the connection between the building and the street. Over three hundred linear feet of the trellis were peeled away from the superstructure of the parking garage, resulting in a shaded public plaza that occupies the most prominent corner of the development.

Rising above the commercial base, two distinct rectangular volumes contain eight levels of office space and nine floors of residential apartments, with amenities that include a rooftop terrace and swimming pool. Vertical tube steel trellises on the east and west façades provide a unifying visual component that emphasizes the verticality of the tower; in addition, they serve as solar screens that block undesirable exposures. Facing north and south, the apartments and workspaces feature horizontal ribbon windows that provide sweeping views of the city to the north and the peaks of the Sierra Madre Oriental to the south.

PROJECT
Citica

LOCATION
Monterrey, Mexico

CLIENT
Internacional de Inversiones (IDEI)

SCOPE
New Construction

AWARDS
1st Place, Bienal de Arquitectura de Nuevo León

PHOTOGRAPHY
Adrian Llaguno