Planta último piso Last floor plan
Planta piso tipo Type floor plan
PLATFORM, TOWER AND CAMPANILE
The Banco Cafetero, designed in 1959 by Borrero, Zamorano & Giovannelli, was built between 1960 and 1962 when the image of downtown Cali was being radically transformed. In the 50s, local regulations introduced the use of the platform for this area, in order to achieve a minimal volumetric uniformity between the modern buildings that replaced the colonial mansions and the existing and future buildings. The slab and tower type adopted would be the object of interpretations like this one, in which the building had to be placed on an irregular corner plot product of the foundational geometrical layout, in addition to the topographical level difference. The longer side serves as a base for the orthogonal grid of the structure which organizes the building, allowing for the creation of a long plaza on which the elevator and stair core rises as a campanile, and as a visual ending and background against which the office tower is defined. The building is supported on a base plane at the lowest level, with the ground floor of commercial premises set back from the building line, lower than the sidewalks on most of the perimeter. Thus, it seems to emerge from a void in the ground, generating a tension between the horizontal condition of the slab and the inclined planes of the streets. A ramp starting at the corner connects with the first floor, where the bank branch is located occupying the two levels of the mandatory platform. This solution absorbs the irregularities both in plan and elevation, giving the appearance of a “pure” or regular form. The expansions between the volume of the platform and the topography - and between the platform and the tower, revealed by the cantilevers - show the expressive search for purity and regularity, allowing the antithetical contrast of horizontality and continuity (platform), verticality and individuality (tower), and volume and space. Each plane is materially differentiated and a careful strategy of articulations and dilations on a smaller scale is observed as a compositional method for the façades. Due to the orientation of the plot, the building is exposed to strong solar radiation, therefore inside the platform a roof trellis filters the sunlight and defines an interior perimeter garden. The dilations of the concrete panels of the façade add strips of light to the overhead play of light and shadows. In the rest of the building the cantilevers provide the necessary protection: in the tower, the access to the offices is configured by galleries arranged as large balconies open to the landscape of the hills, emphasizing their horizontality with large planters that seem to float. Added to the amplitude of the circulation, they provide the protection required against the afternoon sun. The Banco Cafetero, paradigmatic building of the modern architecture of Cali, shows how the forms of international architecture can serve local conditions, acquiring a singular character.
Planta nivel 2 2 nd level plan
Planta nivel 1 1 st level plan
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