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Architects: Matos-Castillo Arquitectos
- Area: 7858 m²
- Year: 2011
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Photographs:Hisao Suzuki
The form and materiality of Police Headquarters differs clearly to nearby buildings, making easier their recognition as a public building. With four floors above ground, a simple relationship of elemental forms determines the volume of the project: an extended three storey prism, resting on two pieces, stands above and points out public and private accesses.
The external envelope appears as a double skin. In the upper box, an outer filter –made of mobile perforated aluminium louvers on east and west façades- protects from sunlight the inner glass sheet. In parts of the base, the outer skin is made of u-glass panels, allowing the entry of light and protecting the views, and the interior of glass.
The program –including parking, locker rooms, guardroom, storage and a shooting gallery in the underground floors- consists mainly in offices as well as a customer service area located in the ground floor. In order to make easier the internal organization and the possible exchange of functions over time, a modular building, with lightweight and removable interior partition walls made of wood and glass, is constructed.
Three vertical communication cores are integrated into a vertical strip of the plan and distinguish the needs of internal circulation between policemen, persons under arrest and public.
Two interior patios illuminate locker rooms and classrooms. A third patio along the west façade gives the necessary privacy to the inspector police dwelling, included in the program.
The position of the building on the site pretends to optimize the chances that the form offers to create the necessary external parking area and differentiate police vehicles access to pedestrian public access. Such functional separation of circulation is essential for the suitable functioning of the whole.
