La Torre del Angel is a 52 story tower located along the Paseo de La Reforma at the Glorieta de La Independencia in Mexico City. It contains a 300 room hotel, 50,000 SM of office space and subterranean parking for 1500 cars. Building lobbies, commercial space and public functions of the hotel are located in the building base, while offices occupy the trunk and hotel rooms the upper levels of the tower.

The tower is designed as a series of vertical elements bundled together, which break apart when they reach the level of the hotel rooms, and form a monumental terrace and an open court. These vertical “shards” terminate at various heights, creating a strong silhouette on the skyline.

Mr. Gates acted as lead designer on this project at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, PC.

The tower occupies one of the most important sites in Mexico City, taking up one quadrant of the circle surrounding the statue of El Angel, dedicated to Mexican independence.

Most of the tower is clad in vertical piers of local black lava stone. The eccentric vertical volume at the corner is enclosed in sheer black glass, evoking the obsidian eyes of the mythical jaguars flanking the steps of mesoamerican temples.

The terrace is oriented toward the south where on clear days one can see the two mythic volcanoes, Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, that stand watch over the city. The building base creates a bounding surface conforming to the circular geometry surrounding the Angel.