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Architects: Gonzalo Mardones V Arquitectos
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Photographs:Pablo Casals Aguirre
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Manufacturers: Porcelanosa Grupo
Text description provided by the architects. The new Porcenalosa Showroom in Santiago de Chile is located on Luis Pasteur Avenue, in the district Vitacura, a commercial road within a mainly residential neighborhood. The building was placed slightly below the level of the street, in order to have a direct relationship with it in the two public levels of the building, being a large showcase showing the interior life and referring to the pedestrian. At the same time, the building is linked to the imposing geographical environment of the area, having then a double relationship with the environment: northern street and hills.
The volume is programmatically divided into three floors that are interspersed spatially: the access level is the showroom open to the public, the upper floor are offices, meeting rooms and a large event terrace that opens to the north and south; and the subsoil is the warehouse.
The building has been entirely built in visible reinforced concrete, solving the different spatial realities with a single material: interior, exterior and intermediate spaces, as well as the necessary solar control allowing a high quality building with natural light and low energy consumption. The building opens as a showcase to the south (light) and closes to the north (sun), allowing a controlled interior natural lighting. Finally, the building acts as an expository white cube, which seeks to highlight the exhibited. It is then a building open to the public, that shows the inner life and its link to the environment.
