Los Cacicazgos is a low density residential area in the city of Santo Domingo located in the vicinity of Parque Mirador del Sur, some of the main avenues leading towards which are connected to the main thoroughfares that define this area within the city’s urban structure. The lots on said avenues benefited from a new municipal regulation that allowed the construction of buildings beyond the previous 10-story limit.
Ginaka 18 is located right on Avenida Caonabo -one of the benefiting avenues- in a lot of approximately 2500 sq. m.
The building has been developed upon a double phased base, where one phase is 1 ½ stories above street level and the other is ½ story below ground, and both phases accommodate the parking spaces and the vertical access to the main facility.
The vehicle access way, the service areas and the pavilion for pedestrian access way have been located right on the main façade, which faces east, towards Avenida Caonabo. The pedestrian access pavilion is vertically linked to the parking area on the lower levels and through it to the gym and access lobby that opens towards a plaza on the third level, around which the dwelling units have been structured following the shape of an inverted U that generates two organizing nuclei.
The service nucleus is linked to the service area units. It has a service elevator, a fire escape and the typical technical features. The main nucleus, in turn, faces the plaza and from it vertical access is gained towards the dwelling units (by elevators or stairs) while also leading to an atrium or inner garden that is seven stories high.
The building consists of 26 dwelling units, 22 of which have been designed using two distinct spatial alternatives with an approximate area of 240 sq. m. There are also 4 penthouses with two distinct spatial alternatives, two of which with an approximate area of 380 sq. m. while the other two have an approximate area of 620 sq. m.
The architectural volume is an element that conforms to the urban character of the very corner where it is located and defines the very basic structure of the building, where a series of volumes and eaves integrate and allow for different types of openings and new volumes that themselves define a peculiar dialogue between interior and exterior, these being the main features that define the formal discourse of the actual design proposal.
