Arbolada de

las fuentes

Apartment Complex

MExico City, Mexico

1996

Located in the northern part of Mexico City, this 50-apartment complex is divided into four blocks which encircle a central courtyard. Three buildings are designated for housing and the fourth was intended for recreational purposes. In the center of the courtyard there is a swimming pool adorned with a small waterfall made of stone. The building located at the lower end of the complex has a child care facility on the first floor, a gymnasium on the second floor and an area for recreational purposes on the third floor. Apart from the economical factors involved, the architecture in this project is based on a premise of eliminating the differences between the needs of a low-budget housing project and those of a residential one.

Mario Pisani Text

Jamie Jacott Photography

Imagen en escala de grises de varias páginas de papel apiladas, con algunas sombras y un círculo negro en la esquina inferior derecha.
Plano arquitectónico que muestra varias estructuras de edificios, áreas verdes y caminos en un diseño urbano.
Edificio de apartamentos de varios pisos con ventanas rectangulares y una esfera azul en la fachada. En primer plano, una escultura roja en forma de tubo curvado. La escena está en un área con césped bien cuidado.
Vista en blanco y negro de edificios modernos con ventanas cuadradas, una terraza con barandilla y áreas de sombra, y farolas en el patio central.
Edificio moderno de líneas rectas y curvas, con ventanas y balcones, en un entorno urbano
Vista desde abajo de un techo con varias curvas y luces pequeñas en su interior.
Vista del interior de un edificio, mostrando un techo con iluminación empotrada y arcos de madera, estructura moderna y decorativa.

As with all Aragonés' work, a sensibility for the aesthetic was an essential part of the project. The function depends primarily on its emotional nature. Any project, whether motivated by enduring purpose or simply by the needs of the moment, is doomed to die if it is conceived without a soul. A soulless project subtracts the heart from an construction, and places whoever must live there in a significantly less human space. In its finest intentions, architecture is every bit as capable as painting, sculpture, drawing or any of the other fine arts to excite and stimulate the human aesthetic. Arbolada de las Fuentes was constructed on a remarkably low budget. In so far as it reformulates the way of prioritizing the needs of an individual person, it differentiates between simply building and attempting to make architecture.

Edificio moderno de color blanco con ventanas cuadradas, bajo un cielo azul con algunas nubes parriba.
Vista de un techo blanco con varias tuberías blancas y sombra al sol, y un cielo azul en el fondo.
Edificio moderno de formas geométricas en tonos beige y gris, con cielo azul de fondo.

PRoject DEtails

  • Miguel Angel Aragonés

  • Carlos Salinas, Hugo Quintero

  • Ricardo Pérez-Saravia, Fabio Foresti

  • Mexico city, Mexico