Can a building change the culture of a company? Can the design of the physical environment impact the way in which we communicate? These are but a few of the questions that the project for the new MAG headquarters analyzed and attempted to address.
MAG Headquarter
In the Guatemalan countryside Cúre & Penabad shaped a building able to create a collaborative working environment that minimizes the current hierarchy, inspired by both vernacular and industrial building typologies seen throughout the country.
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- 08 March 2016
- Escuintla
Currently, the company is housed in a series of detached structures situated on a large tract of agricultural land in southern Guatemala. The configuration reinforces a separation of departments and limits the individual employee’s ability to understand his or her role within the company.
In order to reverse this condition, the new building is designed with a large open room, capable of accommodating all employees, flexible desk arrangements create a collaborative working environment that minimizes the current hierarchy, with directors seated in open desks alongside employees. The plan also provides for a variety of work spaces, including enclosed, semi-private meeting rooms, exterior courts, open terraces, archives and reading spaces that provide a variety of work environments (both interior and exterior) for productive individual and/or collaborative work. The overall form of the building is inspired by both vernacular and industrial building typologies seen throughout the Guatemalan countryside.
MAG Corporate Headquarter, Escuintla, Guatemala
Program: headquarter
Architects: Cúre & Penabad
Consultant: ARUP Engineers
Contractor: Ingenio Magdalena
Mechanical Engineer: Basulto and Associates
Area: 6,300 sqm
Completion: 2015