Zaha Hadid unveils 'interlocking lattice' design for luxury apartments in Monterrey, Mexico

London-based Zaha Hadid Architects unveiled its design for a luxury multifamily project in Huajuco Canyon, Monterrey, Mexico, Gizmag reports.

The complex, called Esfera City Cemyer, is made out of a nine-story building taking the form of a U-shape, with 981 apartments spread over 1.4 million sf—a design which the architects call “community orientated.”

Units will vary from small lofts of 484 sf to four-bedroom apartments up to 1,776 sf. The orientation of each apartment will help reduce the effects of the sun.

Built adjacent to a 7.4-acre public park, residents will have easy access to the outdoors, as well as a clubhouse with a café, exercise room, workshop, and reading room.

“The building’s envelope references the local architectural language and Mexican tradition of interlocking lattice geometries to provide shading and describe the outdoor space of each residence,” the firm said in a statement. “These lattice geometries have been used widely throughout pre-Columbian, colonial, and contemporary Mexican architecture to give protection from the sun and generate varied and dynamic displays of light and shadow.”

According to Gizmag, this low-rise, high-density project is slated for completion in 2018.

The Tampa Bay Rays Major League Baseball team announced that it has reached an agreement with St. Petersburg and Pinellas County on a $6.5 billion, 86-acre mixed-use development that will include a new 30,000-seat ballpark and an array of office, housing, hotel, retail, and restaurant space totaling 8 million sf.

Engineers | Sep 15, 2023

NIST investigation of Champlain Towers South collapse indicates no sinkhole

Investigators from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) say they have found no evidence of underground voids on the site of the Champlain Towers South collapse, according to a new NIST report. The team of investigators have studied the site’s subsurface conditions to determine if sinkholes or excessive settling of the pile foundations might have caused the collapse.

MFPRO+ Research | Sep 11, 2023

Conversions of multifamily dwellings to ‘mansions’ leading to dwindling affordable stock

Small multifamily homes have historically provided inexpensive housing for renters and buyers, but developers have converted many of them in recent decades into larger, single-family units. This has worsened the affordable housing crisis, say researchers.

Deciphering the Differences in Smart Lock Networks

Adaptive Reuse | Aug 31, 2023

New York City creates team to accelerate office-to-residential conversions

New York City has a new Office Conversion Accelerator Team that provides a single point of contact within city government to help speed adaptive reuse projects. Projects that create 50 or more housing units from office buildings are eligible for this new program.