NATURAL BALANCE

that make Natura — a 2,500-square-metre office and residential complex in the Quito suburb of Tumbaco, about 25 kilometres southeast of the capital — unique among buildings in the country and indeed in South America. For one, it’s unusually open, both in its relationship to the street and in its use of interior space. Unlike many buildings in Latin America, it doesn’t lie behind high walls, but welcomes occupants and visitors with verdant, unbarricaded frontage and a flight of low, wide steps that leads to a check-in booth and the main entrance.