Gaia Building, Quito Apartments, Shops, Ecuador Mixed-Use Building, Architecture, Images
Gaia Building in Quito
Residential and Commercial Development in Ecuador – design by Leppanen + Anker architects
16 Dec 2016
Gaia Building
Design: Leppanen + Anker architects
Location: Avenue Eloy Alfaro y Mariana de Jesús, Quito, Ecuador
Gaia Building

This is a crisp 14 story, 15,000 sqm mixed-use building: commercial on the lower floor, offices for the next four floors and residential units on the next nine floors.

The building is located at an important intersection within the city where urban elements converge, such as a new metro stop, an important government building, a commercial shopping center and the most emblematic park of the city. Being the first new construction in this zone and highly visible, the building attempts to combine the many existing and new diverse elements through movements that bring new shadow lines reflections and points of view.
In the search for spatial wealth elements of the facade were eliminated, this is achieved by a design concept that removes strategic corners of the building. Where double and triple height spaces are generated. Where panoramic visual connections to the entire city, manage to activate these exterior areas traditionally dead, and replacing them with different social programs.

These new exterior areas at the top of the building take advantage of the park’s visual and excellent equatorial climate that prevails th...