YOO Quito
The slender YOO Quito tower brings nature into the heart of Ecuador’s capital and marries it with luxury living. Arquitectonica and Philippe Starck collaborated to create a space based on three themes, culture, nature, and minimalist design. The project is part of a larger phase which comprises four major developments conceived in collaboration between leading experts in real estate development, industrial design and architecture.
The YOO Quito building has a slender undulating silhouette with vegetation dominating its base and top floor. For interior spaces, the designers coupled traditional regional design with a modern, minimalist aesthetic. Glass, metal, concrete, foliage and a neutral color palette dominate both the interior and exterior of the building.
The building’s vegetation covers are designed to obstruct, filter and reflect solar radiation. It also provides protection against noise. Transparent glass ensures ample natural light, while smart technology throughout further reduces the building’s energy requirement. YOO Quito is one of the tallest buildings in the city.
The multifrontal terrain condition requires a multidirectional solution. All fronts are important, so the tower requires a sculptural presence.
The true inner tower is a minimalist and functional rectangle, almost like a house of the purist Mies van der Rohe. This glass core acts like the trunk of a tree, strong and rational. But from this trunk, organic floorplates fly as if they were branches populated with leaves forming horizontal layers. The building thus becomes an organic form. The corners disappear as the curves unify the facades which become one instead of four. There are no front facades, side or back.
The undulation of the horizontal floorplates varies from floor to floor creating an amorphous and natural shape. Its fluidity creates the impression that the tower is created by nature; or one might think that the wind is creating a kinetic movement that converts the tower from static to dynamic.
At the Punta de la Torre there is nest or a cloud, an element naturally from the sky. It is suspended on a terrace at the top of this house-tree or “treehouse”.
