Lima-based architecture office Nómena Arquitectos, in collaboration with Talia Valdez, has completed a new mixed-use building in the Santa Cruz neighborhood in Lima, Peru, which is currently undergoing a major transformation to transform old mechanic shops into bars, stores, offices and housing buildings.

Named Morphology, the five-storey building is situated on a narrow plot along one of its busiest streets. The strict dimensions of the plot impose a regular layout to a discontinuous context, trying to define it through a concrete geometrical form. 

The 2,400-square-metre building features various functions, including a retail space, office and cafeteria with an interior botanic garden - which creates an intimate atmosphere compared to other stores and retail spaces.

The architects arrange different functions vertically by scattering the program across five levels. The entrance threshold announces two routes from the street: one to the retail areas and another segregated “inner street”. 

The latter allows passers-by to enter through a botanical garden at the end of the plot that takes up the whole height of the building. This promenade ends at the cafeteria on the last level. It’s a space contained on the sides but open to the sky. 

The first three levels of the building - devoted to retail and exhibition spaces - which are also linked by open stairs encompassing double and triple heights.

The studio uses a perforated skin for the exterior of the building to regulate the interior climate, solar incidence and create a sense of depth by using perforated envelope to the east facade. The architects described the devise as "veranda", taking cues from the traditional balconies of Lima due to its special pattern.

"This device avoids the use of curtain walls and also takes reference from the typical balconies of Lima: where you could see without being seen. Only this time it’s made from precast concrete blocks," said Nómena Arquitectos. 

All images © Diego Franco Coto

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