HCJB Radio was established in Quito, Ecuador, as a pioneering organization in 1931. Its first transmission, as The Voice of the Andes, was received on the only 6 radio sets existent then in the country.
Project Name: Hcjb Radio
Studio Name: Arquitectura x
Site Area: 1474 Sq. m
Built Up Area: 1817 Sq. m
Status: Built
Image Credits: JAG studio
Only ten years later they were broadcasting in 14 languages, and in the following decades, they were reaching audiences worldwide.
From the outset, HCJB also established community services like rural medical dispensaries and, later, a Hospital in Quito (Hospital Vozandes). For over 90 years it has been an exemplary institution in our country, both in mass communication and community work, constantly developing their ¨mission¨ in the benefit of society.
HCJB, through time, shaped an entire sector of Quito; around 1938 the Vozandes neighbourhood began to develop, first with the radio complex and homes for its personnel, later with the hospital and other complementary buildings and houses.
The architecture was eclectic, different from the local typologies, with clear North American influence, characterized above all by the geometry and materiality of its roofs and by the use of porches, as transitional spaces between private interiors and public exteriors.
Following internal reorganization, a private competition was called in 2021, to design the new headquarters for HCJB Ecuador, in the middle of the Vozandes neighbourhood, presently consolidated with medium-rise multipurpose buildings, alongside some of the original houses.
How then, should the new building embody this fundamental relationship with the community?
With such specific characteristics of ¨isolation¨ required for radio and video studios, how to introduce public and communal open spaces in the building?
How to foster these relationships, be welcoming and represent such a significant history, while at the same time, creating a contemporary and flexible workspace, adaptable to changing uses and the evolution of HCJB over time?
Our proposed scheme set off with these questions to produce an open, modifiable and expandable system, based on a scheme of atrium plus a terrace patio.
The atrium and the terrace patio organize and distribute the uses, in plan and section, according to degrees of public access, and if destined for HCJB or for rent or sale.
The building is functionally divided into 2 blocks, that can either connect horizontally and vertically, or not connect; this allows HCJB flexibility of occupancy and future growth within the building, or allows them to lease offices from the 2nd floor up.
Two staircases connecting HCJB’s floors are fundamental elements of the atrium, marking their space within the building, the private within the public. The main vertical circulation provides universal access to all areas, separated where needed by glass doors.
The atrium and the terrace patio scheme is conceived with attributes that work in tandem:
Open to the city but enclosed and welcoming to the community of users of HCJB’s services; public and private; contemporary and flexible, yet based on and representative of the history of HCJB.
The south wall of the atrium is designed as a support to represent this history, with a mural worked in the same plywood as the wall and enveloping ceiling; the mural will grow as their work grows into the future. The mural within the atrium is in full view of all users and passers-by.
The terrace patio, defined by its two edges of landscaped, tree-lined benches, together with the sequence of tree-lined terraces on each floor, constitute the main open space necessary for community events, but at the same time is central to daily work, with informal meeting and breakout spaces. This reinterpretation of the gardens of the original radio complex is essential in the new building.
Finally, two very important conditions set out in the competition are resolved with the atrium plus terrace patio scheme:
The possibility of occupying only the southern half of the lot, leaving the north half for an extension or a whole new building in the future.
The possibility of changing and/or expanding the building, during the development of the project or in the short term, according to changes in the distribution of HCJB’s internal programme and the offices for rent or sale.
In fact, the final floor was added during construction.
In consequence with the necessary flexibility and the possibility of a short-term dismantling of the building, a dry, light and strictly modular construction system was determined, using simple, local materials, with low impact, maintenance and cost. Due to complex ground conditions, together with the variable dimensional and load-bearing capacity requirements, the structure had to be solved combining steel and concrete.
The light metal roofs, in materiality and geometry, are based on the architecture that gave shape and identity to the Vozandes neighbourhood.
