Designed to reflect the four core values of the community foundation, four columns stand as the iconic foundation of the 15,600-square-foot FECHAC Regional Offices in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Known as the Chihuahua’s Businessmen Foundation or FECHAC in Spanish, the counselors of the foundation specifically asked for an emblematic headquarters building that would symbolize the foundation’s willingness to show strength in hard economic times. The pillars represent the values of giving, subsidarity, solidarity and common good. The walls are made more distinctive due to color-changing LED lights that transform the structure. The $2 million building was completed in December 2011 and features 15,000 square feet of 4-mm Reynobond aluminum composite material panels in Silver Duragloss 5000 from Alcoa Architectural Products, Eastman, Ga.
According to Ruben Escobar-Urrutia, LEED AP, architect with Grupo ARKHOS, Ciudad Juárez, who designed the project with Ricardo Pacheco, also with Grupo ARKHOS, aluminum was a clear choice. “The shape of the building, especially the area destined for the offices, required a smooth finish, one that cleans itself with rain. Aluminum does that, and its silver metallic color helped us with the concept that the building transforms itself during the day and through the night with the colored lights. If we had chosen another metallic finish, like copper, oxide finished steel, or a darker or colored finish, the colored effect would not work.”
Aluminum allows the pillars to stand tall and give off a strong aesthetic. “It’s like these volumes 
were made of stone, giant stone blocks with rough edges, as if they were carved out of a granite quay,” notes Escobar-Urrutia. “These volumes look so heavy they could not be moved, as if they have being there for ages. The values of the institution are the same, they could not be replaced, and they don’t change with time or events. As a similitude with the stone heads of Easter Island, guarding or taking care of their community.”
The decision to illuminate the building’s walls was a conscious choice in relation to the sustainable features found throughout the office building, including the green roof whose variety of plants will change colors during the seasons, acting as a living mural. In response to the green roof, a constantly changing façade was chosen for the building. The northern wall on the Banquet room area of the building was clad in Norcross, Ga.-based Hunter Douglass Softwave 25 panels, and the western façade was covered with Hunter Douglass Celoscreen 200 louvers to protect from the sun. The building also features double-pane low-E windows from Viracon Inc., Owatonna, Minn., variable volume HVAC systems, and high efficiency fluorescent lighting on the interior, as well as the exterior of the building. “The building is designed with the principles of the LEED certification, although it is not LEED certified,” explains Escobar-Urrutia. “The roof garden on top of the lobby faces west, protecting the building from direct exposure to the sun.”
“Every time you drive in front of the building it looks different,” says Escobar-Urrutia. “On the aluminum panel elements the sun hits these elements add a different angle and intensity during the day, transforming it constantly. We wanted to continue with the living mural and constant change concept throughout the night with LED color changing lights, that emphasized the tessellated volumes that we designed.”
Designing the façade was a challenge, especially due to the unique geometric shapes of the four pillars explains Escobar-Urrutia. “On this particular project, none of the big aluminum installers on the region wanted or thought the work could be done like that.” We wanted folds on all of the vertices instead of silicone joints, and wanted to use the aluminum sheets in one piece so we could have as few joints as possible. Since nobody thought it could be done, we had to prove ourselves it could be done, “With [a] skilled and open minded group of carpenters, and a whole week in the sun for all of us, we asked the building’s structure fabricator to prefabricate all of the structure for the front and back of the tessellated volumes and lay them flat on the parking lot area.”
The crew worked with the aluminum panels routing and added the needed folds to adjust to the metallic structure. All the folds run from one edge to the other on the façade. The end result was less than 3 percent waste in the process of installing the aluminum elements.
Additionally, the building itself is a part of the overall community and has served as the backdrop for newlyweds, high school and university photos. Most importantly, the building stands as a testament to FECHAC’s mission, as Escobar-Urrutia remarks, “At the end, it’s a building of the community and for the community.”
FECHAC Regional Office, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico
Completed: December 2011
Total square footage: 15,600 square feet
Architect: Grupo ARKHOS, Ciudad Juárez, www.grupoarkhos.com
General contractor: Constructora MAYAB, Ciudad Juárez, www.mayabconstruction.com
Hunter Douglas supplier and installer: Espacio Decoracion, Ciudad Juárez
Metal wall panel supplier: Metales Internacionales, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
Metal wall panel installer: Grupo ARKHOS, Ciudad Juárez
Curtainwall/windows: Aluminio y Tecnologia de Chihuahua, Ciudad Juárez, www.altech.mx
Glazing: Viracon Inc., Owatonna, Minn., www.viracon.com
Louvers/sunscreens: Hunter Douglas Contract, Norcross, Ga., www.hunterdouglascontract.com
Metal wall panels: Alcoa Architectural Products, Eastman, Ga., www.alcoaarchitecturalproducts.com
Structural steel: Grupo DIPICSA, S.A. de C.V., Ciudad Juárez, www.dipicsa.com
