SOLANA MASTER PLAN | PROJECTS | Legorreta Arquitectos
SOLANA MASTER PLAN

Category: Master Plans
Region: North America
Year: 1985
Location: Westlake/Southlake, TEXAS, U.S.A.
FT2 Construction: 3,229,170 sq ft
FT2 Ground: 69,965,350 sq ft
Involved Areas: Master Plan

Collaborators:
LEGORRETA®
Ricardo Legorreta
Noé Castro
Carlos Vargas Sr.
Gerardo Alonso
Max Betancourt
Jorge Suárez

Associate Architects:
PLAN MAESTRO / MASTER PLAN: Peter Walter/Martha Schwartz Michel/Giurgola Arch Barton Myers Associates
ARQUITECTO EJECUTIVO / EXECUTIVE ARCHITECTS: HKS INC.

Consultants:

STRUCTURAL DESIGN: INGENIUM, INC.
INTERIOR DESIGN DMJM Rottet
LANDSCAPE DESIGN Peter Walker/ Martha Schwartz / MESA DESIGN GROUP
CIVIL ENGINEER Huitt-Zollars Inc.
MEP ENGINEER Blum Consulting Engineers, Inc.
CONTRACTOR / CONSTRUCTION MANAGER: HKS INC.

Photographer:

Dixi Carrillo
James Wilson
Jim Hedrich
Peter Aaron
Lourdes Legorreta


Diverse challenges faced Legorreta Arquitectos while developing the vision for the Solana office park, an 1800-acres campus north of Fort Worth, Texas. The first challenge was to bring the perspectives and ingenuity of various architects together to form a wholly consistent interpretation of needs and appropriate design solutions. The team formed by Legorreta Arquitectos, Mitchell, Giurgola, Barton Myers and Peter Walker (Landscape architect) needed to formulate an overall concept for the development, and work through the details of context and landscape. The Texas prairie site was a second challenge, with a potential for the complex to be easily lost in the landscape. Encompassing 1900 acres of rolling hills, the design solution needed to demonstrate a respect for the flat lowland areas an ability to rise above it in scale and contrast. An additional man-made barrier presented a third problem. A major highway dividing the site, presented a difficult obstacle to access and circulation within different components of the development. Legorreta practices an architecture of emotion. We can talk about aesthetics, proportions, etc., he states, “but if you cannot stir human emotions then you are not designing good architecture. At SoIana, in a succession of spaces connected by arcades and corridors, Legorreta Arquitectos brought architecture and the corporate world into balance. Designed by Legorreta, the low-lying buildings rise out of the surrounding prairie and woodlands so that “the observer does not have a clear understanding of where the buildings end and the landscape begins. To create a unique corporate setting for conferences and retreats, were used simple forms, brilliant colors and dramatic shadows. Featuring the native planting schemes designed by Peter Walker, SoIana provides a refreshing and decidedly different experience for the IBM employees and visitors to the office park. Solana contains 1.8 million square feet of office, retail, hotel, fitness center, exercise room, SPA and recreational space, linked by a parkway and shuttle transportation system that foster convenience and ease of access throughout the property. Legorreta Arquitectos designed the South Lake corporate offices for IBM, the Village Center which includes two office buildings, a shopping center, a 200-rooms Marriot hotel and a sports and health spa. The IBM office buildings contain 350,000 square feet offices, conferencing, dinning and computer facilities. Mitchell / Giurgola Architects designed West Lake offices for IBM. Using the highway that divided the property, Legorreta Arquitectos was able to turn a negative into a positive; taking advantage of the highway designing an underpass for access to the project and incorporating it into the complex through the use of color and shape. Using brightly colored vertical elements as directional entry symbols, users and visitors are guided through the development. Instead of the highway access detracting from the development, it becomes an important unifying feature. In 2006 as consequence of its success, the client has asked L+L to provide the Solana Marriot Hotel with an extra 100 rooms, extend the existing ballroom and provide a second meeting room area. The new wing, as originally planned during the first phase is located next to the pool area on the south side of the building. It is seven stories high and houses meeting rooms on the first level and a fitness center on the second one. A new exterior area has been proposed in between the pool area and the new wing for outdoor events. The façades have been designed taking the same criteria has the existing building into account.



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