Liverpool Mexico

Liverpool Interlomas Flagship Deparment Store in Mexico City

The rising architecture firm Rojkind Arquitectos won the competition to design the flagship store for Liverpool in Mexico City. Designed and built in just over a year's time, the project's fast-paced process was made possible by digital construction processes and having all contractors and fabricators on-board with the Building Information Model (BIM).

The new Liverpool Flagship Store is part of the Paseo Interlomas Mall located in the Interlomas neighborhood of Huixquilucan a suburb of Mexico City. The flagship store was produced to rebrand the chain with a contemporary image for its Mexico City shoppers, in the same way that Apple's Flagship Stores jump-started their brand, or the Neiman Marcus in Natick Massachusetts re-established their contemporary presence.

Liverpool Interlomas Flagship Store.

Designing the Liverpool Interlomas Facade

Zahner was selected by Rojkind Arquitectos to design the Liverpool Interlomas Facade because of Zahner's proven ability to design and produce complex curvilinear forms. The process was efficient, on-time, and under budget, which is a result of the BIM-informed digital manufacturing process.

In early 2011, Architect Michel Rojkind and his design team met at the Zahner Headquarters in Kansas City. There they worked to define the details with the Liverpool clients, the installation contractor, the structural engineer, the lighting consultant, and Zahner's own Design Assist Group. The teams worked together to design-engineer an integrated model, and then agreed on a section of that model to be built as a mockup.

Rojkind and the Design Team meet at Zahner.

Liverpool Interlomas full section and skin details.
Image courtesy Rojkind Arquitectos.

Exploded details of the Liverpool Interlomas ZEPPS™ Integration.
Image courtesy Rojkind Arquitectos.

Within a matter of weeks, a fully-functional mockup was produced and installed on the Zahner mock-up tower, pictured above. The mockup is a crucial stage of the design process, revealing issues to work out in the final iteration, and helping Zahner engineers and fabricators foresee the more difficult aspects of an upcoming project.

The mockup also assisted other contractors on the job. The Mexico City based installer was able to use the mockup to gain an understanding of how best to assemble and install the final components. Zahner worked with the entire design and ownership team to optimize the fabrication and shipping sequences for efficiency so as to meet the demands of the agressive construction schedule.

Liverpool Mockup on the Zahner Mockup Tower.

Zahner craftsmen fabricate the Liverpool ZEPPS™ Components.
Photograph © Mike Sinclair.

This facade functioned as a design-build project, defined by the Design Assist Group at Zahner. This means that Zahner owned the design of the anchoring and worked with the structural engineer on an integrated design. Using the Design Assist Group also means that from the very onset of the project's planning stages, a team of intelligent designers and engineers at Zahner were defining the details which would ensure a smooth production and installation process.

After producing the mockup in January 2011, the team made subtle revisions to the project's 3D model. The Liverpool project then quickly went to operations and fabrication. Code-named Project 7, The Liverpool Project was a fast-paced design, build, and supervised install. In less than a year the project went from drawings and renderings to completion, in November of 2011.

Building with ZEPPS™

The Design Assist Group at Zahner used the patented ZEPPS™ Process to engineer and produce the massive panels which attach to the building's structure and provide the uniform surface for the Angel Hair™ Stainless steel skinned surface.

The ZEPPS™ Assemblies were fabricated and assembled as complete panels in the Zahner Shop in Kansas City, where they were shipped on trucks to the job site in Mexico City. Building the exterior facade with ZEPPS™ drastically reduces the construction time because the panels simply bolt to existing connections on the steel structure.

Liverpool Installation and Construction.

Liverpool Roof Construction.

Liverpool Interlomas during Construction.

Installers meet at the Liverpool Interlomas.

Liverpool Flagship Store nears completion.

Liverpool Interlomas Department Store.

Liverpool Interlomas metalwork details.

The project features a diffused stainless steel known as the Angel Hair™ Surface. This surface is used throughout the project on both its interior and exterior surface. In select areas, the project also features Zahner's GB-60™ Process for bead-blasting stainless steel, and the MetaSystems™ Process to selectively bump the surface of the metal.

Drivers approach the Liverpool Interlomas Flagship Store.

Interior metalwork for the Interlomas Store.

Zahner's engineered metal surface was also used on the interior entrance to the store. This surface is an Angel Hair™ Finish with an anti-fingerprint coating.

Interior metalwork for the Interlomas Store.

Liverpool Roof during November 2011 Opening.

Liverpool Interlomas Rooftop Garden.

The rooftop features a garden, pictured above. The surface of the facade wraps over the top edge of the roof, providing a close-up-view to guests on the balcony. The Liverpool Store is located in Interlomas, Mexico , southwest of Mexico City.

Aerial view of Rojkind's Liverpool Interlomas Map.
Image courtesy Google Maps.

Liverpool Interlomas Further Reading

The articles and resources below include both internal and external pages which provide greater insight and images of the Paseo Interlomas Liverpool Store.

Google Maps Liverpool Interlomas Map on Zahner Earth
Designboom Rojkind Arquitectos Department Store Article, March 2012.
Archdaily Liverpool Department Store Article, March 2012.
DeZeen Liverpool Department Store by Rojkind Article, September 2011

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