National Space Access Laboratory

LANAE, the National Laboratory for Space Access, is a research and specialization center located in La Estanzuela, Hidalgo. The complex was conceived to bring together the administrative, scientific, and experimental activities required for its operation.

The program is distributed between two main buildings. The first accommodates the administrative offices, while the second contains the laboratories and specialized research spaces. The project also includes an outdoor platform for the launch of aerospace balloons, one of its most distinctive functional requirements.

The complex occupies a 20,000-square-meter former agricultural site. Approximately 2,000 square meters of built area are concentrated within a limited portion of the property, minimizing the building footprint and maintaining an open relationship with the surrounding landscape.

The proposal combines the technical and industrial character of a laboratory with an architectural expression that responds to the site’s natural conditions. A sequence of serrated slabs and roof profiles defines the silhouette of the buildings, visually reduces their scale, and establishes a gradual relationship between the architecture, the land, and the horizon.

This geometry gives the complex a recognizable identity without relying on the conventional image of an industrial facility. Offices, laboratories, and experimental spaces are integrated into a unified composition that communicates LANAE’s scientific and technological purpose.

AKURAT was responsible for the authorship and architectural development of the project, from its conceptual definition through the completion of the construction documentation. The proposal integrated the laboratory’s administrative, technical, and operational requirements while meeting the client’s expectations.