Hasta La Ideas

Ample daylight, worker ammenities and low-maintenance gardens feature in a large campus for a housewares company that was designed by Mexican architecture studios Estudio MMX and Luis Campos.

The project – referred to as Campus Betterware Guadalajara, or CBG – occupies a 7.5-hectare site in El Arenal, a town north of Guadalajara in the western state of Jalisco.

It serves as a key campus and distribution centre for Betterware, a household products company with international reach.

Totalling 15,000 square metres, the campus encompasses administrative space and a series of warehouses for shipping, receiving, sorting and storage.

It also offers worker amenities such as a cafeteria, gym, leisure room, hairdresser, laundry facility, infirmary and children’s nursery.

Creating continuation between the different programmatic areas was a key concern for the design team – Mexico City’s Estudio MMX and local architect Luis Campos.

“An important aspect that determined the configuration of the campus – and that is imperative for the optimum functioning of an industrial building of this type – is the horizontality and continuity between operative spaces,” the team said.

The team conceived nine individual buildings set within a garden landscape, helping to ensure users have access to “high-quality spaces and experiences”.

Pathways link the buildings and allow workers to cross the gardens.

Two of the buildings are elongated, rectangular bars that sit perpendicular to each other.

The other seven buildings are roughly square in plan, and they surround the bars in a staggered formation.

For structural framing, the team used concrete and steel painted in a reddish hue. Stretches of glass usher in natural light.

The language of the exterior continues indoors, where one finds voluminous spaces and exposed structural elements.

A number of elements that the team said contribute to sustainable design were incorporated into the campus.

A team that specializes in bioclimatic design helped conceive architectural solutions that are suitable for the site, including ways to incorporate passive ventilation and natural lighting.

Solar panels help supply energy to the facility. The campus also has its own water-treatment plant, which includes a rainwater harvesting system.

The landscape features plants that are low-maintenance and adapted to the local climate. “Dry rivers” were integrated into the site to channel rainwater toward the gardens and help water infiltrate the soil.

Other projects by Estudio MMX include a Yucatán geology museum that “consciously synthesizes” Mayan and contemporary architecture, and a Mexico City home that consists of towering volumes that step down a hillside.

The photography is by César Béjar.

Project credits:

Design: Estudio MMX and Luis Campos
Collaborators: Santiago Vázquez, Ana Nuño, Gerson Guizar, Lesly Noguerón, Gabriel González

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Dezeen Showroom: New Zealand-based lighting brand Nightworks Studio has featured a selection of its lights and lamps on Dezeen Showroom, including a pendant light with a scalloped profile.

Nightworks Studio’s Tasman pendant lamp is named after the Tasman Sea and is characterised by its gentle profile reminiscent of waves.

It has a modular design intended to be used to create long segments of continuous lighting that undulate across the space.

The light comes in single, double and triple wave formats all of which are made from aluminium and contain dimmable LED lighting.

The brand’s Code lighting collection comprises oversized, hand-blown glass beads accompanied by linear brass elements that reference the dots and dashes used in morse code.

It includes a pendant lamp and sconce light that have components that can be easily reconfigured by the user to create different combinations.

Nightworks’ Duomo Piccolo lighting collection is available in three formats – a wall sconce, a stem wall light and a pendant light – that all share the same elongated dome-shaped shade.

Duomo lamps come in a range of brass finishes including natural brass, whiskey brass and midnight brass.

The Petrine collection consists of three formats – a single pendant light, double pendant light and a wall lamp – that share geometric, cylindrical compositions.

LEDs are hidden within the pipe-like extrusions creating a seamless finish. The lights are suitable for installation both indoors and outdoors.

The Offcut wall sconce makes use of extra slabs of rock from stone processing sites.

The shards support a half-moon shaped, white glass bulb that illuminates both the space and the backing, which are all unique thanks to their natural origins.

Nightworks is a lighting brand that designs and manufactures contemporary light fittings for residential and commercial interiors.

The brand was established in 2019 and is headquartered in New Zealand.

Dezeen Showroom

Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen’s huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.

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These Syncline Folding Desks, created for flexible workspaces and schools, are by Australia-based Sylex Ergonomics.

They’re up on lockable casters, and a locking dial beneath the worksurface allows the tabletops to tilt.

With the tabletops tilted, they can be nested for storage.

I wondered what that perforated black panel is for; the company explains it’s a “modesty panel” (e.g. if the sitter is wearing a short skirt).

A mechanism beneath the desk allows you to link multiple units together, either side-by-side or at a right angle.

Shown above is the 1500mm (about 5′) wide unit, which seats two side-by-side. There’s also a 750mm (about 30″) wide model, below, that seats one.

I tried to find the designer(s) or design firm responsible, but the company apparently does their stuff in-house.

This unusual Pop-Cycle shrinks for storage and expands for use not by folding, but by sliding the rear portion of the bicycle forward along its rail-like crossbar.

Designed and produced by South Korean bike manufacturer Bokyong, the goal was to create an easy-to-transport bike that can quickly compress or deploy. It shrinks down to 39″ long and 31″ tall, meaning it will fit in most car trunks.

The bike’s adjustability is intended to accommodate a variety of rider sizes.

Interestingly, the bike is produced without any welds. All of the parts are die-cast and bolted together. The bike ships flatpacked and the user is meant to assemble it.

The Pop-Cycle has been successfully funded on Kickstarter, with 45 days left to pledge at press time. Buy-in starts at $468 and the first units are expected to ship this June.

Indian architect Sanjay Puri has joined Dezeen Awards 2023 as a judge. Here, he selects five projects that best reflect his studio’s work.

Puri, the principal architect and founder of Mumbai-based architecture firm Sanjay Puri Architects, describes his practice as “exploratory, constantly evolving to create spaces”.

“We emphasise contextual responses that are sustainable,” Puri told Dezeen. “We are currently working on over 100 projects of all typologies including housing, schools, offices, apartments, urban planning, hotels and resorts.”

The projects are “contextual to the location”

Puri has selected five projects that he considers best represent the work of his studio, including a curvilinear house built from locally sourced bricks, sandstone and lime plaster and a university building featuring a stepped green roof and punctuated courtyards.

“Each of these projects is contextual to the location in their responses to the climate. The buildings are energy efficient and explore different ways of experiencing spaces,” said Puri.

Puri among Dezeen Awards 2023 judges

Dezeen Awards 2023 launched last month in partnership with Bentley Motors. On Tuesday we announced five more Dezeen Awards judges, including architects Koichi Takada and Jing Liu, creative director Rafael de Cárdenas, Architecture Hunter founder Amanda Ferber and interior architect Tola Ojuolape.

Submit your entry before the standard entry deadline on Thursday 1 June. Click here for more entry information.

Read on to find Puri’s views on the five projects that best represent the work of his studio.

The Mirai House of Arches, Rajasthan, India

“Mirai is a villa in Rajasthan, India, designed on a small 622 square metre corner plot for a three generational family.

“A punctuated curvilinear envelope surrounds the house, creating semi-open spaces all along the perimeter, with deeper recesses on the garden-facing sides.

“This design solution reduces heat gain while also providing sheltered open spaces around the villa in the hot summer months when temperatures exceed 40 degrees Celsius.

“In collaboration with craftsmen and local labour from the immediate vicinity, Mirai House was built using locally sourced bricks, sandstone and lime plaster. The villa also includes natural systems to recycle [used] water, harvest rainwater and solar panels to generate electricity.”

Read more about The Mirai House of Arches ›

The Ras Houses, Rajasthan, India

“The Ras Houses are low-rise volumes designed around open courtyards and gardens which comprise a series of guest houses, bachelor hostels and studio apartments.

“Deeply recessed windows, open and sheltered courtyard and naturally cross-ventilated living spaces contribute towards reduced heat gain and naturally cooled interiors.

“The volumes are painted in bright hues derived from the traditional Rajasthan colour palette.”

Read more about The Ras Houses ›

The Rajasthan School, Rajasthan, India

“The Rajasthan School is informed by old [Indian] cities, with an informal layout interspersed with open and enclosed volumes.

“Conscious of the desert climate of its location, each of the classrooms are north oriented to avoid direct sunlight. The ventilation occurs naturally via corridors traversing and skirting the semi-sheltered courtyard at the centre of the school.

“The semi-sheltered courtyard has multiple angular pathways, connecting the school with open-air play spaces that foster engagement.

“The school’s entire electrical power requirement is generated by the residual energy of a cement plant nearby. In addition, the [school’s] water [waste] is recycled and reused.”

Read more about The Rajasthan School ›

The Prestige University, Indore, India

“The Prestige University is an energy-efficient building that, in addition to housing numerous activities, also operates as a large open public space with an accessible ground floor and landscaped roof.

“The multiple spaces within are interspersed with naturally lit courtyards, allowing indirect light to infuse the internal volumes at each level.

“The north lighting and courtyards take cues from traditional Indian architecture, creating an energy-efficient sustainable building with minimal dependence on artificial lighting and air conditioning.”

Read more about The Prestige University ›

18 Screens, Lucknow, India

“The site for this house lies along a busy arterial road and is on the peripheral edge of an extensive development of private homes.

“The house is built around a courtyard, the focal point of a traditional Indian house, in response to the climate of the location.

“Patterned screens and embroidery provide shelter from the sun, creating different light patterns throughout the day and mitigating traffic noise.

“The design facilitates natural ventilation and sunlight within the building and is simultaneously contextual to the location, considering the sun, tradition, culture and social aspects.”

Dezeen Awards 2023

Dezeen Awards celebrates the world’s best architecture, interiors and design. Now in its sixth year, it has become the ultimate accolade for architects and designers across the globe. The annual awards are in partnership with Bentley Motors, as part of a wider collaboration that will see the brand work with Dezeen to support and inspire the next generation of design talent.

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