The laboratory building of the Universidad Iberoamericana is one of several ICESA interventions at this health sciences campus — a body of work that includes the overall masterplan, the ambulatory clinic, the laboratory annex, and a series of subsequent renovations to the main building. Together they represent a sustained dialogue between the firm and the institution over time.

The laboratory annex itself is a small volume built in exposed concrete block, positioned at the northwest corner where it recomposes to receive students under a large beam — one that was intended to extend westward and unite three buildings: the laboratories, the main building, and the ambulatory clinic. The subsequent construction did not fully pursue that plan.

The building organizes around a central corridor with three laboratories on one side and service spaces on the other, repeated on each floor. Within the constraints of a tight lot, the architectural quality comes almost entirely from the articulation of material: on the exterior, the block steps back to carve the entry; on the interior, rows of blocks are subtracted and added to integrate the building’s general lighting, turning each wall into a surface of light and rhythm. Door colors serve as the wayfinding system, contrasting against the general gray of the concrete. Even the space under the stair is put to use as an informal meeting and learning area.

The windows read as precise perforations within a proportional field — a dynamic compositional structure that is today only partially visible. Despite the changes it has absorbed over the years, the building has aged with the dignity its exposed materials originally promised.