20 years 20 buildings: Puma Energy LatAm Headquarters

Today we present the headquarters of Puma Energy in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. This is an 8,000 m2 corporate building that is formally characterized by pure geometries, with the 4 large floor shelfs flying perimetrically, as well as the transparency of the façades.

The design and construction of the building, led by Ruiz-Pardo Nebreda Architects, was developed between 2013 and 2019 and has received numerous awards: International Architecture Award 2019 (1st Prize), The Plan Award 2019 (1st Prize) | MUSE Design Award 2019 (1st Prize), German Design Award 2020 (Nomination).

In relation to the structure, there are very big interior spans (of approximately 15 m), as well as cantilevers (of approximately 7 m). On the other hand there are extremely demanding seismic and wind actions, given its location in a typhoon zone.

The horizontal structure is solved with steel trusses spaning the big interior spans as well as the catilevers, allowing the coordination with MEP, with hollow core slabs. As for the structure for the horizontal actions of wind and earthquake, it is solved with a system of coupled concrete shear walls, a system of high ductility and efficiency.

Did you know that ….? The building has been designed for a short-period seismic acceleration of more than 0.6 times the force of gravity and a design wind speed of more than 230 km/h.