IQON is BIG’s South American debut in Quito
Quito gets a brutalist urban addition – IQON – courtesy of Bjarke Ingels and Ecuadorian developer Uribe Schwarzkopf
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

With IQON, the vertiginous growth of Quito’s built skyline has reached a new milestone. The project marks the completion of the first of a pair of towers in the city by Bjarke Ingels’ architecture studio BIG, that looms over La Carolina, the Ecuadorian capital’s version of Central Park. At some 131m high, the 33-storey brutalist centrepiece becomes Quito’s tallest building, surpassing the Basílica del Sagrado Voto Nacional, a Roman Catholic cathedral in Quito’s historic centre.
IQON by BIG
Quito’s upwardly mobile transformation has been made possible by the relaxation of height limits, which moved from 15 to 40 storeys following the relocation of the international airport outside the city’s boundaries in 2015. Things – and the city’s inhabitants – have been looking up ever since.
IQON’s developer, Uribe Schwarzkopf, has been leading the boom in contemporary skyscrapers with its self-styled version of 'healthy urbanism', enrolling help from global architects like BIG, Moshe Safdie, Carlos Zapata, Jean Nouvel, Arquitectonica and MAD to reshape the city’s skyline.
Designed to occupy an L-shaped site, BIG’s distinctive high-rise curves around the plot from north to south creating 220 luxury apartments. They tower over the city looking out at differing angles to the north or west, while its more traditional east-facing flank has been given up to trendy offices.
BIG’s rotating volume repeats itself every three floors, giving the façade a prickly, ‘pineapple’ appearance. The jagged exoskeleton pattern crafted from concrete blocks that stack on top of one another, produces myriad corners, crooks and crevices that have been converted into balconies and terraces for each apartment.
To soften the building’s brutalist, concrete shell, the architecture studio introduced what it calls an ‘urban tree farm’, planting a selection of mid-sized trees and shrubs from Ecuador’s rich biodiversity in planters occupying corners of the neighbouring apartments below. Trees will be replanted in the park when they outgrow the structure, says the architect.
The tower is something of an architectural anomaly, according to Lorenz Krisai, design lead for BIG on both IQON and the follow-up project to the south of the park, EPIQ. The materials and complex finish would be almost impossible to pull off in any other climate or for another client, he says.
'A brutalist building like this probably wouldn’t have been possible anywhere else or with any other partner. No matter how much we kept pushing the concept to its limits they kept saying, “yes”,' he says.
Completed in October 2022, IQON’s striking façade has already converted the building into a photogenic addition to Quito’s impressive existing body of brutalist architecture – it includes notable examples, such as the Templo de la Patria by local architect, Milton Barragán.
Inside IQON, apart from the office and residential offering, the developer gave over three floors to playful communal facilities, including a bowling alley, an arcade and a music room for jamming on the sixth floor, as well as a poker room and a squash court by the Olympic-sized pool on the rooftop.
uribeschwarzkopf.com (opens in new tab)
big.dk (opens in new tab)
Originally hailing from the UK, Rainbow Blue Nelson first landed in Colombia in search of Tintinesque adventures in 1996. Subsequent forays from his Caribbean base in Cartagena have thrown up a book about Pablo Escobar, and the Wallpaper* City Guides for Santiago, Brasilia, Bogota and Miami. Currently completing a second book about Colombia whilst re-wilding 50 hectares of tropical rainforest on the country's Caribbean coast, he’s interviewed some of South America's most influential figures in art, design and architecture for Wallpaper* and other international publications.
-
Venice Biennale 2024: a guide to the artists announced so far
Keep up-to-date with our ongoing list of who’s representing who at the Venice Biennale 2024 – here's what we know so far
By Martha Elliott • Published
-
New Nike book is an inspirational handbook for the next generation of creatives and athletes
New Nike book, ‘After all, there is No Finish Line’, features eye-catching black-and-white imagery and speculative fiction and essays that ponder design, innovation and sport
By Pei-Ru Keh • Published
-
Sophie Bille Brahe interprets the signet ring with a new initials jewellery
Sophie Bille Brahe’s new initials jewellery is ‘a personal way to express an eternal feeling of love’
By Tilly Macalister-Smith • Published
-
A minimalist Mexican home has rocky roots
Echegaray, a minimalist Mexican home by Pérez Palacios Arquitectos Asociados, draws on its rocky site, which peeps out from its lower levels
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
This tiny house is the perfect lookout towards the Seto Inland Sea
A tiny house by Schemata Architects looks out towards the Seto Inland Sea
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Home and art gallery Maison Colbert is a London transformation story
Maison Colbert by Chris Dyson Architects reimagines a row of London houses into a single home and artist's gallery in the East End
By Marwa El Mubark • Published
-
This slim Condesa house in Mexico City blends rawness and nature
Casa Parras, a Condesa house in Mexico City, is the brainchild of two studios – Alberto Kalach’s TAX and Emilio A Cohen's Tow Va Bow
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Modernist architecture: inspiration from across the globe
Modernist architecture has had a tremendous influence on today’s built environment, making these midcentury marvels some of the most closely studied 20th-century buildings; check back soon for new additions to our list
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Mumbai apartment by Rajiv Saini is the perfect Malabar Hill bolthole
A Mumbai apartment designed by Rajiv Saini blends indoors and outdoors at the top of a Malabar Hill block
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
A pair of Costa Rican retreats brings a refined aesthetic to a spectacular site
Formafatal designs a pair of Costa Rican retreats; two minimalist villas for a maximalist plot in the heart of the jungle
By Jonathan Bell • Published
-
Contemporary bridge design connecting worlds
The world’s most extraordinary bridge design, showcasing the finest blend of architecture and engineering, from Italy to the US and the UK. Cross these bridges when you come to them!
By Ellie Stathaki • Published