CDMX, MX
Public Building (Under Construction)
Built Area: 1000m2
Professional Project: Studio Fierro + Francisco Pardo Arquitecto
Team Members: Jingyuan Zhang, Antonio Contreras, Marine Gigandet
2021
In an already-built city, overcharged with memory, architecture becomes a political statement through its engagement with what is already there. Removed from a totalitarian impulse to design and build something from scratch in an existing context, how can a building adapt to the different needs of a new program?
Constantly shifting urban conditions require a project’s ability to adapt dated service infrastructure into contemporary needs. Using subtraction as a tool for proposing architecture, the project deems to take away the additional layers that were progressively added to the original structure. For the intervention of this new ‘Pilares’ building, the original structure is left as a dominant trace of memory, framing the space for a new layer in its urban story. A former children’s daycare center will shift into a multiplicity of spaces where the local community can have access to the ‘Pilares’ training and education program in a marginalized location of Mexico City. The main intention is to consider the potential of the different spatial conditions required, using the pre-existing concrete structure as the basis for the program. The entire structure holds four different buildings that will each contain different programs, adapting to the classroom’s activities and tools needed accordingly. Internal buildings are connected by the open relationship they have with patios and corridors, promoting a space for coexistence among programs and the exchange of encounters. Furthermore, the proposal adds the terrace floor into the program for public use, extending the connection between the building and the surrounding community.
Essentially, direct and open spaces are meant to enable a constant program adjustment, adapting to the shifting educational necessities of the community at any given time.