Gothic stained glass reinterpreted at 7,987-square-metre Mexican tower

A 7,987-square-metre university tower in Durango, Mexico, borrows its facade logic from Gothic cathedral windows. Local studio Jonathan Corral Arquitectos completed the UAD Alamedas Tower for Universidad Durango Santander, a private institution with campuses across several Mexican states.

The university acquired a site overlooking Las Alamedas, a tree-lined promenade that runs through the heart of the city. That setting drove the design.

"The project establishes its relationship with this setting through an intermediate condition – an architecture with a clear urban presence, whose scale and materiality engage with the existing landscape," said the design team.

What does the building contain?

The tower is triangular in plan. It stacks eight levels plus a basement.

Programs include:

• classrooms and studios
• meeting rooms
• auditoriums and offices
• a cafeteria
• a courtroom for mock trials

The school teaches law, architecture, medicine, sciences, communication technologies and gastronomy.

How does the facade reference Gothic architecture?

From outside, the building reads as multiple structures. The main north-facing elevation mixes treatments. One portion wears grey fibre-cement panels. Another carries a black metal screen.

The central section holds a glazed elevator and a faceted curtain wall. Dark mullions frame triangular glass panes.

"The large glazed surface of the facade draws on the compositional logic of the Gothic stained-glass window, translating it into a contemporary urban scale," the team said.

The rear wall takes the opposite approach. It's more opaque, with grey cladding and short horizontal windows. The main entrance sits behind a broad stone staircase that doubles as a plaza. The building rises above grade to guard against potential flooding, the team said.

What's inside?

Visitors enter a full-height atrium ringed by walkways with frosted-glass railings. The atrium aims for "visual continuity" between interior spaces and the promenade next door.

"From within, the urban landscape is framed by different levels and circulation routes, keeping the context a constant presence throughout the building experience," the team said.

The lobby holds a sunken plaza wrapped in black marble. A suspended staircase acts as a sculptural element.

Exposed structure defines the upper and lower levels. The basement, which contains digital research and consultation space, shows raw concrete walls and flooring. The top floor, holding three auditoriums, has a pine-lattice ceiling meant to be "in dialogue with exposed structures and ducts, as well as steel railings".

"Rather than concealing the logic of construction, the solution allows structure and program to share a common architectural expression," the team said.

A rooftop terrace tops the building, offering gathering space and city views.

Who built it?

Jonathan Corral Contreras led design, with a team of Heriberto Díaz Ortega, Aida Uribe, Sergio Cisneros, Osvaldo Medina and Julio Rodriguez. Forum Constructura, under Martin Soriano Villanueva and Fernando Soriano Villanueva, served as contractor. Jesús González Flores handled structural engineering.

The project joins a growing list of Mexican campus architecture, from a courtyard-focused business school in Aguascalientes to Tatiana Bilbao's stacked-glass biotechnology building in Mexico City.