South America to Get Its First Ever BIG Building in Ecuador

Ecuador is all set to be the first South American country to get a building designed by BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group). Named IQON, the L-shaped residential tower will be constructed in the Ecuadorian capital city, Quito.

The IQON, once constructed, will be the tallest tower in Quito, which is one of the highest elevation cities in the world.  The current record of the tallest building in the city is held by Basilica del Voto Nacional—a Roman Catholic church. The building, which is developed by Uribe and Schwarzkopf, will be located between the urban center of the city and La Carolina Park.

Courtesy Of BIG

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At the base of the structure, there are overlapping terraces that provide shade to the green public plaza. The plaza is brought to life by retail shops and an east-west pathway that connects the park with the neighborhood. It will act as an approach to the building’s lobbies while offering shaded space for people to rest.

Courtesy Of BIG

Staggered concrete blocks are stacked and rotated to form the 33-story structure. The rotation of the blocks creates a curve at the corner of the L-shaped structure, providing the apartments with striking views of the city, La Carolina Park, and the surrounding volcanoes. The rotation also creates extra space for terraces on both the north and south facades, providing all the apartments with optimized views, a sense of openness, and cross ventilation. The curved corner of the building houses “through-units,” while the perpendicular wings comprise two circulation cores.

Courtesy Of BIG

BIG also reflects Ecuador’s unique environment and richness of the fauna in their design of IQON, turning the building into an urban tree farm. The IQON’s vertical facade, with its pixel-like projections, becomes a display of the biodiversity in the capital city of Ecuador. Each terrace is provided with different species of plants. Whenever those plants overgrow their space in the balconies (after approximately five years), they shall be replanted into the city park.

Courtesy Of BIG

“We are letting La Carolina Park climb up and into the building by planting native trees and plants on the terraces: the closer to the park, the taller the trees,” says the design team from BIG. “A hollow wall underneath each balcony has enough space to hold the roots of each tree. The planters become a concrete sculpture inside the apartments, which is the root zone of the tree for the apartment above.”

Further enhancing the IQON experience, the designers introduce an integrated lap pool from overlapping terraces at the roof level. Residents of the tower can use this amenity to relax and wind down after a long day or to enjoy the spectacular views of the city.