The new mixed-use infrastructure “Estación San José”, by FRPO, becomes the new cultural, economic and activity hub of Toluca, Mexico
FRPO, an international architecture office based in Madrid, has designed Estación San José, a new mixed-use infrastructure in Toluca de Lerdo, the capital city of Estado de Mexico. The complex is located at the northern end of Avenida Juárez, which links the historic district with the university area. This new construction arises as an opportunity to concentrate the dispersed activity around this area and to create a new cultural, economic and activity pole, both at local and metropolitan levels.
The facility will act as a social condenser and revitalize the center of one of the cities of the most populated region of the country. A design that arises from the conditions –high building density– and from the possibilities –privileged location and dialogue with heritage - offered by the environment in which it is located, as well as from the multiple and apparently incompatible programmatic requirements. Hence, the solution consists of organizing a flexible structure that allows the repetition and superposition of plans. This strategy multiplies the street level surface to host multiple activities: parking, offices, co-working spaces, cultural spaces, commercial areas ... All of them crowned by a public roof garden that offers privileged views of the area’s historic buildings and the imposing Nevado de Toluca volcano.
The intervention results in an exposed concrete superstructure with a bold and pregnant geometry that is related to the urban environment, rising and providing views, both near and far. The basic structural framework is arranged as a field of pillars that support a double family of thin beams, gives character, and unifies the whole. On the one hand, continuous slabs are folded over the beams to create the parking area and, on the other, these are drilled to generate diagonal relationships and vertical spaces that enrich the rest of the programs. In addition, all this is covered with a delicate light metal skin that wraps the resulting volume, leaving openings to the most appreciated views: The Cathedral, the Cosmovitral –botanical garden– and the mountains to the southwest.
Juarez 204, Toluca
Estación San José is a mixed-use infrastructure in the city center of Toluca de Lerdo, the capital city of the Estado de Mexico, the most populated entity of the whole Mexican Republic.
The project is placed in the northern edge of Avenida Juarez, which links Toluca’s Historic District with the University area to the south., and arises as an opportunity to concentrate the disperse activity around this neighborhood and create a new cultural, economic and activity hub, both at local and metropolitan levels, a social condenser with the goal of revitalizing the central area of the city, overlapping community programs: car park, office and co-working areas, cultural and commercial spaces… coronated with a public-access garden at the rooftop with spectacular views of the great Nevado de Toluca.
A flexible infrastructure
The result is a very flexible infrastructure that expects to be occupied by different types of users.
A naked concrete super-structure with a clean, meaningful geometry relates to the urban surroundings, rising above and overlooking them, both closely and beyond. The structural frame gives character and unifies the complex, arranged as a field of pillars supporting a double family of slender beams. Over them, continuous slabs are folded to create the parking area and are further perforated to generate diagonal relations and vertical spaces. A gentle lightweight metallic skin encloses the resulting volume, framing the most appreciated views: the Cathedral, the Cosmovitral and the Nevado de Toluca.
