A compact black volume at the Autonomous University of Durango uses permeable metal screens, suspended external staircases and a planted entrance threshold to regulate daylight, natural ventilation and the transition between the campus and its laboratories.

 

Torre Negra in Durango by Jonathan Corral Arquitectos is a 1,094.40m² laboratory building within the Alamedas Campus of the Autonomous University of Durango. Developed between 2024 and 2025, the project accommodates laboratories for different disciplines within a compact volume that establishes a recognizable presence while remaining connected to the academic structure of the campus.

The architecture is organized around the contrast between a dense black envelope and a series of permeable elements. Metal screens regulate solar exposure, daylight and ventilation, while suspended staircases extend circulation towards the exterior. At ground level, rosemary, lavender and water features establish a softer landscape threshold before entering the building.

 

A planted threshold

The arrival sequence deliberately contrasts the material density of the building with the landscape surrounding its entrance.

Rosemary and lavender are combined with water features to create a planted transition between the campus and the laboratory building. Rather than approaching the black volume directly, users move through a softer foreground that slows the transition towards the interior.

The landscape therefore becomes part of the architectural sequence. Its lower scale, texture and sensory character establish a counterpoint to the abstract geometry and dark materiality of Torre Negra.

 

A façade that filters light and air

The principal façade is defined by a continuous metal screen.

The system limits direct solar exposure while allowing diffused daylight and natural ventilation to reach the interior. Selected elements are rotated slightly from the main plane, introducing controlled irregularities into the otherwise repetitive surface.

These variations create changing degrees of opacity and transparency according to the position of the viewer and the angle of light. The envelope consequently performs both an environmental and compositional role.

Rather than treating solar control as an additional technical layer, the project incorporates it into the primary architectural expression of the building.

 

Suspended staircases as intermediate spaces

The vertical circulation is positioned partly outside the main volume through a system of suspended metal staircases.

These elements do more than connect the different levels. Their partially exposed configuration places circulation between interior and exterior, allowing views towards the surrounding campus while users move vertically through the building.

The staircases therefore extend the spatial experience beyond the enclosed laboratories. They introduce moments of exposure, changing light and visual contact with the exterior within an otherwise compact building.

 

Permeability towards the campus

The secondary façade, facing the interior of the university campus, follows the same environmental logic.

Metal slats create a surface that appears comparatively solid from a distance but becomes permeable at closer range. The system supports cross-ventilation while maintaining visual continuity with the internal circulation areas.

The contrast between apparent mass and actual permeability becomes one of the defining characteristics of Torre Negra.

The building can therefore maintain the visual strength of a compact black volume without becoming environmentally or spatially sealed from its surroundings.

 

An active envelope

The project concentrates much of its architectural identity in the treatment of the building envelope.

Repetition establishes order, while small rotations and changes in permeability introduce variation. The same elements that give the façades their distinctive appearance also regulate sunlight, ventilation and visual relationships between the laboratories and the campus.

Jonathan Corral Arquitectos use a limited set of operations—screening, repetition, suspension and controlled permeability—to respond simultaneously to climatic, functional and spatial requirements.

Torre Negra consequently operates as a compact technical building whose architectural expression emerges from the performance of its envelope rather than from applied formal gestures.

In Puerto Vallarta, on Mexico’s Pacific coast, Casa Tao by HW Studio is conceived around shade as both a climatic necessity and a spatial condition. The 472 m² residence draws on the memories and interests of its inhabitants, translating ideas of shelter, quiet and contemplation into a sequence of enclosed courtyards, filtered views and protected interiors.

The house occupies a neighbourhood without distant views, but directly faces a tree-lined plaza offering shade and breeze. Rather than opening frontally towards it through extensive glazing, the architecture establishes an indirect relationship with its surroundings. Carefully positioned openings allow the presence of the plaza to be perceived while limiting exposure to the intense coastal sun.

Shade as a way of inhabiting

The design emerged in part from the inhabitants’ personal histories. Growing up in Puerto Vallarta, one of the owners understood shade as an essential refuge from the heat and humidity of the Pacific climate. A later family journey to Japan introduced another set of references: spatial restraint, emptiness, carefully filtered light and a sense of stillness.

These influences are translated into an architecture of indirect relationships. The house neither withdraws completely from the city nor exposes itself fully to it. Instead, views, breezes and daylight enter through controlled openings, courtyards and transitional spaces.

The result is an environment shaped less by outward display than by the gradual experience of light and shadow.

 

 

Private spaces below, social life above

The principal programme is divided vertically. Bedrooms, the garage and service areas occupy the base of the house, while a lighter, double-height volume containing the main social spaces is raised above them.

Elevating the communal areas separates daily social life from street level and opens it towards the crowns of the surrounding trees. Air circulates around the upper volume, while elevated patios form protected outdoor rooms overlooking the neighbouring greenery.

The arrangement allows the house to engage with the plaza without relying on a conventional panoramic façade. The relationship is experienced through fragments: the movement of branches, the arrival of the breeze and the changing quality of light.

Courtyards and interior retreat

The bedrooms are organized around a courtyard, where enclosure provides privacy while preserving access to air and sky. At the entrance, a curved wall gently redirects movement, while a tree marks the transition into the house.

This inward orientation creates a sequence of spaces focused on the sky, shade and vegetation. The courtyards are therefore more than sources of natural light and ventilation; they establish the slower rhythm around which domestic life is organized.

Throughout the house, privacy is achieved through depth and indirect views rather than complete isolation.

 

 

Concrete, whiteness and filtered light

The material palette reinforces the contrast between the intensity of the exterior climate and the subdued atmosphere within. White surfaces respond sharply to the coastal sun, while exposed concrete absorbs and softens light.

Its weight gives the interiors a sense of permanence, but the changing daylight prevents the material from appearing static. Light settles across walls and surfaces, revealing subtle differences between open courtyards, shaded thresholds and more protected rooms.

The architects relate this approach to Junichirō Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows, where darkness is understood as a means of giving depth to perception rather than simply as the absence of light. In Casa Tao, shade becomes similarly active: a climatic resource, a spatial filter and the element through which the house establishes its atmosphere.

Casa Tao ultimately proposes a form of domestic life organized around attention and pause. Through its elevated patios, inward-facing courtyards and carefully controlled openings, the house creates a protected interior world while remaining connected to the air, vegetation and climate of Puerto Vallarta.

Linear volume

Conceived as a continuous linear volume that bends and unfolds across the site, the Courtyard Office organizes its program around a large internal garden that becomes the social and environmental core of the project. The building’s geometry creates a porous workplace environment where circulation, landscape and workspace remain in constant visual dialogue, fostering openness, interaction and environmental comfort.

 

Spatial Organization

The office develops sectionally between two and four levels, allowing the building mass to respond dynamically to orientation, climate and circulation requirements. At the southwest and northeast edges, the volume lifts from the ground plane, enabling prevailing south-westerly breezes to move naturally through the internal courtyard and enhancing passive cooling throughout the complex.

Additional lifted corners at the northeast and northwest ends generate generous double-height volumes that accommodate shared collective functions, including a cafeteria and a library. These spaces establish visual continuity between floors and encourage informal interaction across different departments and working environments.

The primary circulation spine traces the perimeter of the courtyard, maintaining constant visual contact with the landscape while connecting the office floors. Workspaces are arranged along the outer edges of the building envelope, opening toward planted gardens and benefiting from natural light and framed exterior views.

 

 

Climate-Responsive Design

The geometry of the building was carefully developed to maximize environmental performance. Its longest facades are oriented toward the north, ensuring consistent indirect daylight across the office interiors throughout the day. On the remaining elevations, angled louvers filter sunlight while directing views and light northwards, minimizing heat gain and reducing the building’s overall energy demand.

Natural ventilation strategies are embedded directly into the architectural form. The lifted ground conditions, landscaped courtyard and sectional variation collectively generate airflow through the building, creating comfortable internal conditions while limiting dependence on mechanical cooling systems.

 

 

Design Philsoophy

Drawing inspiration from the spatial logic of traditional Indian courtyard houses, the project reinterprets the courtyard not merely as an outdoor void, but as an active climatic and social device. Open and enclosed environments alternate throughout the complex, creating a varied sequence of volumes, orientations and atmospheres that support different modes of work and interaction.

The result is a workplace environment where architecture and landscape operate as a continuous system, balancing environmental efficiency with spatial diversity and human experience.