Banco GNB
Arquitectonica began to develop a master plan for this new “campus of commerce” in 2009. It will eventually feature a park and seven glass towers, including the Westin Lima Hotel at 30 stories, and the Banco GNB (also known as Torre Begonias) at 26 stories. They face each other across Calle Las Begonias, a central location beside a major new subway station and just off a cloverleaf interchange, where two of the city’s most important expressways — Avenida Paseo de la República and Avenida Javier Prado Este — intersect.
The towers set up an architectural dialogue — similar in form, but with slight deviations from a common theme. One tower is planar and hard-edged. The other is sensuous and swelling. The Westin features angular “fractures” down each of its four corners that create a prismatic effect, a recessed triangulation that appears to open and close as it descends from the roof. The glass used in the corners captures light that seems to cascade all the way to the main lobby to look as if it had been made by the blowing wind.
Lima is prone to earthquake activity, so the towers were structured to withstand significant seismic shock. Central cores were made from structural steel plates that extend out and connect to a single row of perimeter columns. This provides maximum resistance to tectonic shifts while also providing an open layout for more flexibility for interior planning. The curtain walls of both towers have 30 percent reflectivity, which helps to save on air conditioning costs. Both are oriented to take full advantage of natural light, while all their artificial lighting is sensor-activated.
