Our friends from PLANE-SITE present:
Iñaki Echeverria – Sonora 113
A new film explores a new kind of workspace for a changing workforce
Don’t forget to turn on subtitles!
New ways of working require new kinds of workspaces. Today, an office needs openness, vitality, and flexibility. It should respond to the needs of the workforce as much as the specificity of its environment. With this in mind, PLANE—SITE is pleased to present a new short film about Sonora 113, designed by architect Iñaki Echeverria, a building that meets these particularly 21st century demands.
Sonora 113 is a radically new building typology, and PLANE—SITE is delighted to have had the opportunity to profile this innovative project. The resulting 3m40s film features an interview with lead architect Inaki Echeverria a nd footage of the building in use as a living, breathing workspace.
As the film elaborates, Sonora 113 responds to the changing needs of the contemporary workforce. Studies have repeatedly shown that employees today typically spend around 50% of the time away from their desk — a need that Iñaki Echeverria have answered to. Sonora 113’s eight offices encourage movement and collaboration, and each has its own substantial outdoor space. More than simply balconies, these areas provide fully functional outdoor workspaces befitting the Mexican climate. This gives those who work in the building additional freedom to choose where and how they work.
Also in the documentary, Iñaki Echeverria explains how he responded to the unusual specifications of the proposed building’s location. Sited in the historical and largely residential Colonia Condesa neighborhood, the size and shape of the plot was oddly proportioned — a width of just 8 meters and a depth of 45 meters.
Sonora 113 also had to integrate a beautiful historic building that had existed on the site for almost a century. As the film shows, the completed building seamlessly blends the old with the new, the modern glass fronds protecting the antique frontage. The floor-to-ceiling glass walls, too, posed another question — how to fill these offices with light while sheltering them from the intense heat of the Mexican sun. Find out how these limitations became important tools in the film.
The documentary makes a strong case for Sonora 113’s new building typology: one that responds to the changing needs of today’s workforce, and one that balances the interest of the past and the present, all the while pulling office design into the future.
ABOUT IÑAKI ECHEVERRIA
Iñaki Echeverria is an architect and landscape urbanist. He serves on the faculty at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, the Universidad Iberoamericana and the Aedes Network Campus Berlin. Through his namesake firm, founded in 2008, he has won high-profile commissions including the Parque Ecológico Lago de Texcoco and the Parque Atlacomulco.
ABOUT PLANE—SITE
PLANE—SITE is a content agency specializing in the built environment, generating original and compelling narratives for global organizations and cultural institutions. They have previously worked with the World Architecture Festival, Pierre Boulez Saal and ArchDaily.
