Torre Reforma, Mexico-City

Torre Reforma, which received the International Highrise Award in November 2018, designed by Mexican architect L. Benjamín Romano, convinces with its remarkable appearance, an exceptional structural concept contributing to seismic safety, high-quality materials and latest technology. Moreover, the 246 m high office tower is built to be particularly sustainable and has received LEED Platinum - the highest distinction of this sustainability seal. The carefully planned details for the new skyscraper of the superlative also includes the fully automated parking system by WÖHR. On 12 levels above ground, two Multiparker 750 - like all WÖHR systems with project-related design - stack 424 parking spaces in high-level racks.

The new building rises into the sky of Mexico-City like a gigantic obelisk - to some, the currently most innovative skyscraper in the world resembles a massive, opened book or, with its two pyramid-shaped concrete facades, is reminiscent of the construction method used by the Aztecs. Two of its three sides show few narrow places where light comes through, only one side opens out and allows daylight into the interior. Aluminium screens in front of the glass facade reduce the direct exposure to sunlight, so that the energy-efficiently designed building heats up less. The architects attached great importance on a sustainable, resource-saving design - in particular regarding the materials and the intelligent building technology.

With its triangular ground plan, the angular form aiming high into the sky and the use as office and business building with shops, restaurant and fitness centre, the Torre Reforma stands out from other, merely residential, high-rise buildings throughout the world. Another feature is a historical villa dating back to the 1920s at ground-floor level, which was raised with the entire base area and integrated into the sculpture of the skyscraper. For this purpose, the entire building was pushed onto an extremely strong concrete panel, temporarily moved and after the completion of the appropriate foundations, pushed back to the original location. This way, it was possible to avoid demolition of the historico-cultural monument and use the renovated building section for shops such as an Apple store. In addition, the architects considered the two-storey building as an ideal entrance and passage to the currently highest tower in Mexico. However, not only has the existing building been skilfully integrated in the modern architecture of the 246 m high office tower, space-saving automatic parking was also precisely tailored to the building.

WÖHR designed two fully automated car parking systems of the Multiparker 750 type for this purpose. They provide 424 parking spaces on a concrete structure and stack the vehicles on 12 parking levels above ground and one parking area of approximately 895 m² as in a high-bay storage facility. Four transfer areas in the entry level provide access to the high-level rack via a lift/shuttle system. A lift positioned at the end of the system transports the shuttle vertically to each parking level. There the car, which is on a longitudinal pick-up transport system (LAT), is horizontally moved by the shuttle to the empty parking space and deposited by the LAT. There are four transfer areas in the Torre Reforma to enter and exit as well as four shuttles, which move and park the vehicles independently of one another directly onto the concrete shelf. This enables a throughput rate of around 95 cars per hour.

After entering the building, the vehicle is parked in one of the four transfer areas. The parking process and the selection of the parking space is then fully-automatically controlled via a RFID chip at the control panel, which is placed at the entrance. The system also scores with fast access times when exiting the building, as there is no need to move any empty palettes. The system is very flexible and can be used by passenger cars, vans or SUVs of various heights up to a weight of 2.5 t. Each parking space thus only requires an area of approx. 2.2 m², the volume is approx. 84 m³. “Efficiently used parking space in line with our concept of green parking, this fits optimally to the sustainably designed building by Benjamín Romano“, explains Jens Niepelt, Managing Director of WÖHR.

The construction period of the Torre Reforma lasted from 2008 to 2016. Two years later, it was awarded with the International Highrise Award (IHK) 2018, which is bestowed by the City of Frankfurt, the German Architecture Museum and DekaBank to unique high-rise buildings worldwide since 2003. In so doing, an international jury of architects and engineers described the building as a masterful expression of contemplation on the skyscraper”. With its clear forms and the well thought-out earthquake-proof structural concept, which gives the tower its characteristic appearance, the building, designed by L. Benjamín Romano, was leading the way for high-rise architecture worldwide. The jury also commended the Mexican architect for his design, the careful planning, choice of materials and the perfect details.

“We are proud to contribute to a highly-efficient solution of inner-city parking in a pioneering skyscraper construction with our fully automated parking system WÖHR Multiparker 750”, comments Managing Director Jens Niepelt on the project in the Torre Reforma.