Vitro announced 19 May 2003 that thanks to the company“s record on delivery standards, product quality and its ability to produce complex shapes in glass, it was selected to provide more than 5,000 s…
Vitro announced 19 May 2003 that thanks to the company“s record on delivery standards, product quality and its ability to produce complex shapes in glass, it was selected to provide more than 5,000 square meters of glass for Galerias Valle Oriente, the second-largest shopping mall in Mexico. Located in the Monterrey metropolitan area, Galer“as Valle Oriente was designed by the architect Marcos Suberville as an “intelligent building,” using state-of-the-art technology. The mall is a 160,000 square meter construction project that hosts 180 commercial sites and shops”including such leading retailers as Liverpool, Deportes Mart“, Sanborns, Zara, and 18 Cinpolis Cinema screens, the most luxurious and technological advanced cinema in Latin America”as well as more than 14,000 square meters of common areas and 2,500 parking spaces. “We were looking to achieve the sense of being outdoors, without the ambient heat and noise, providing safety and comfort to visitors, and that“s exactly the effect we achieved by using glass,” said principal project architect Marcos Suberville. Galer“as Valle Oriente“s will have approximately 5,000 square meters of glass, including a large atrium that uses the Duovent brand double glazing system”which requires 6 mm Tintex and Low Emission tempered glass, separated by an aluminum blade. Also, inside the building“s structure are several areas that use tempered curved glass and 9.5 mm flat glass. “Galer“as Valle Oriente is the second largest shopping mall in the country, just behind Santa Fe, located in Mexico City … the architecture has no equal, compared with any other shopping mall in the country,” said Alfonso Garza, the project manager. The developer of this significant icon building for the city of Monterrey was UCALLI, a leading Mexican company dedicated to the development and construction of commercial and residential projects. Lead by Antonio Elosa, UCALLI has developed a number of other noteworthy projects in the Monterrey metropolitan area, including Galer“as Monterrey, Cintermex, Seguros Monterrey Building, Corporativo Fundadores, and Parque Corporativo Valle Oriente, among others. Duovent, Vitro“s registered double glazing brand was installed in the Galer“as Valle Oriente by DECORALSA. “The use of glass in this type of buildings is very important and necessary because of weather and energy consumption requirements,” commented DECORALSA director Gerardo Marcos. “The use of glass in icon, commercial and residential buildings is becoming more common in Monterrey, as well as in the rest of the world. This is mainly due to the key attributes of glass, which reduce energy consumption and maintain the buildings“ internal temperature,” noted Adrian Sada III, Alejandro Leal and Javier de la Garza, Value Added Products executives for Vitro. “The atrium“s structure is very special; it is covered with Vitro“s double glazed Duovent glass because of its unique properties and advantages. We chose Vitro because they have the ability to deliver on time and meet our complex specifications,” added project manager Alfonso Garza. In addition to this important project, Vitro has participated in the construction of a number of key icon buildings worldwide, including the Oceanographic Museum in Valencia, Spain, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the Walt Disney Conference Hall in Los Angeles, the Winter Garden Atrium in New York, Torre Mayor in Mexico City and the Satellite Building of the International Airport of Barajas in Madrid. Duovent units are energy-saving and noise-reducing systems registered by Vitro that use two panes of glass separated by a hermetically sealed air chamber.