Puma Energy Corporate Headquarters are located on the Panamerican highway, passing through San Salvador. The new building, which is inserted between the deteriorated existing commercial and industrial buildings that characterize this stretch of road with barely public profile, overlooks the road with a powerful cantilever taking part of the intensity of the traffic, showing its interior activity and acting as an innovative element of the urban landscape. The building consists of two superimposed and arranged crosswise blocks, interlacing solids and voids all around them.
Thus, a progressive sequence of compressions and expansions arranges and qualifies the circulation and access areas. A vertical void connects both blocks at their intersection allowing visual relations between different levels and programs. Here, the light is vertical and comes from skylights on deck in contrast to the horizontal spatiality of the open office area located in the upper level. The lower block is defined by a space between concrete walls, establishing punctual relations with the outdoor areas, while the upper one emphasizes horizontality and is solved with two parallel gantries and perpendicular beams, configuring two cantilevers at the ends.
This upper block is linked to the horizon through a sieve made of vertical steel slats which also acts as curtain wall mullions. To the south, the screen disappears and the enclosure is recessed from the structure border generating an outdoor terrace, while on the north side the enclosure exceeds the limits of the concrete structure and is projected over the road and towards the volcano of the city. Credits: - RUIZ PARDO & NEBREDA - BUILDING ENGINEER - SONIA NEBREDA