Chapultepec Uno / Mexico City, Mexico / Multiparker 760

Mexico City challenges daily life: air pollution, light pollution, earthquakes, congested streets, plus the sheer size of the 22-million-strong metropolis. Housing and parking spaces are lacking. The new Chapultepec Uno tower houses offices, flats and rooms of the high-end hotel brand Ritz Carlton. The luxury building marks the border between megacity and oasis of calm.

Climbing to the 60th floor and arriving at the heliport reveals an incredible view over the Bosque de Chapultepec, roughly Mexico City's Central Park. The opening of Chapultepec Uno is imminent - quietly and without much celebration due to the pandemic. In the corridors of the new skyscraper, visitors:inside are greeted by fine Turkish marble and black granite walls that emphasise a modern nonchalance. Perhaps the most surprising thing: the silence. The noise of the vibrating environment is shut out. The double-shell all-glass façade with air circulating inside also ensures that no thermal energy is lost.
In addition, spacious terraces on each floor separate the hustle and bustle of the big city from the tranquillity of the luxury property. The tower offers over 4,000 square metres of terrace space.

Located on the emblematic and historic Avenida Paseo de la Reforma, the building stands 241 metres tall. The street stretches 15 kilometres through the city and runs along the Bosque de Chapultepec, Mexico City's green lung. The castle Castillo de Chapultepec, which towers over the green area, was once a military academy. It functioned as both an imperial and presidential residence. Today, the magnificent castle houses the Museo Nacional de História, the National History Museum. Crowds flock here on Sundays, when admission is free.

Maximising thought

Chapultepec Uno is a mammoth project in a mammoth city. The object seems like a dividing line between nature and city, between origin and future. What distinguishes the building from other skyscrapers in the zone? The view, answers architect Salvador Nuñez. The view of the forest and the castle is only one of the many special features. More impressive than the view, however, is the maximisation idea: Chapultepec offers a lot of space in a small area. From the outside, the building looks like a compact, slender pen. Inside, however, it reveals a size that is relaxing in a metropolis as cramped and crowded as Mexico City.
Technologically, the tower creates a melange, there is globalisation in the structural elements: engineering from England, lifts from Finland, the façade from China and Mexico.

Safe

The WÖHR parking system is located underground. Users drive down by car via a ramp. The key fob with a built-in RFID chip is held against the lock post, after which a small screen displays the cabin number. The door of the cabin opens and the car can be slowly manoeuvred onto the parking space. Four so-called curtain lasers analyse whether the vehicle has been optimally placed or if slight corrections still have to be made. This is important for the fully automated system to work.
Before leaving the cabin, a reminder is given: Handbrake pulled? Engine off? Lights off? Only when everything has been confirmed by the driver does the fully automated parking system initiate the process.
The turntable manoeuvres and transports the car from the first to one of the twelve underground levels where it is parked. In 15 seconds, everything is over and your own car is in a kind of safe that no one else can reach.
There is space for 80 vehicles per level. There is constant movement. WÖHR has opted for a "chaotic system".
system. This term refers to the approach of not assigning users fixed parking spaces for their vehicles, but rather constantly changing ones. This creates a constant dynamic and an optimal utilisation of the system.
The intelligent, fully automatic parking system is an in-house development by WÖHR, both in terms of hardware and software. Several thousand sensors form the core of the system. They help to safely move the vehicles onto a kind of conveyor belt, from which they are transported to the assigned parking box. Those who want to collect their car from the underground car park hold the tag with integrated chip up to a display in the waiting lobby. In a maximum of three minutes, the vehicle is ready - thanks to the integrated turntable in the direction of the exit.

Project specifications

• WÖHR Multiparker 760
• 12 underground parking levels
• Operation via RFID chip
• Vehicle length max. 5.25 m
• Vehicle width max. 2.20 m
• Vehicle height max. 2.00 m
• Vehicle weight max. 2,500 kg
• 767 parking places

Project plans