Car Sales Center
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Project Info: A new showroom with a large display window wall which opens up to the mountain views. The car lot extends up onto the building’s roof for additional merchandising.
Completed: 2005
Photography:
Project Description:
The programmatic requirements for the Thrifty Car Sales building was to provide an automobile showroom which enhances the vehicles on display while conveying a feeling to the customer that they were not paying extra money for overhead cost of the facility. The project site was selected by the owner for its access to and visibility from I-25; Frontage along Alameda Blvd; and proximity to other car dealerships in the area. In responding to the site conditions the building was sited parallel along Alameda, and facing east to I-25 and the Sandia Mountains.
In opening up the building to the east, the design captured the opportunity to extend the sloping roof plane down to the ground, thus creating a ramp onto which vehicles could be displayed, and thus gives the illusion that the vehicles were on the roof of the building. In an attempt to convey a frugal use of materials, the exterior of the building is clad in galvanized corrugated metal wall panels, and burnished CMU. The interior of the building has stained concrete floors, painted gyp board walls, and an exposed painted roof structure. The building design is clean, and straight forward in its attempt to convey simplicity to the buyer, and to let the vehicles take center stage.
