ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION VISITING SCHOOL MEXICO 2017
CRAFTING GROUNDS WATER MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR OAXACA
19 - 29 JULY 2017
In collaboration with:
OAXACA, MEXICO
This year Mexico Visiting School will travel to Oaxaca City the capital of the state of same name in Mexico to survey, map, design and build landscape and architectural structures in the surrounding ravines of the city. In doing so, the Visiting School aims to engages students with new technologies related to survey, mapping design and fabrication methods influenced by local and traditional crafting techniques. These technologies will be applied into a collective built project in the ravine ‘El Pedregal’ part of the City of Oaxaca as the outcome of the workshop. The workshop will be supported by two institutions: ‘Casa de la Ciudad’ and ‘INSO’ which have been involved in the regeneration strategies of the ravine ‘El Pedregal’ through water and land management: water retention, collection and infiltration together with introduction of organic agriculture and permaculture techniques. The Workshop will experiment with several aerial mapping and surveying techniques to gather information on site digital data. It will compute and collect survey data into GIS and Rhino software to design and finally built an onsite small structure (steps/pavilion/view point) in tune with the site requirements.
EL PEDGREGAL
The site chosen is the ravine ‘barranca del pedregal’ in the borders of Oaxaca City. The brief and purpose of structures will be guide by INSO and the plans they have for the ravine: ‘El pedregal’. INSO is a local organisation that aims to rethink the way humans can relate, natural processes and dynamics to social and cultural needs and the workshop classes and meetings will take place at Casa de la Ciudad. Casa de la Ciudad is a NGO that study and broadcast issues related to the urban life in the City of Oaxaca.
PROGRAMME
The workshop will incorporate a veriety of intensive group workshops, lectures, site visits, software tutorials and pin-up presentation. Tutors will teach specific software, among which: · ArcMap and ArcScene · Rhinoceros and Grasshoppper · Photogrammetry through Agisoft Photoscan
METHODOLOGY The workshop divided in to groups which researched and speculated on the issues of water management in Oaxaca at a variety of scales. At the largest scale, teams researched the entire watershed catchment at the before gradually zooming in to the site of El Pedregal, with one group experimenting with innovative construction techniques making use of locally available materials to build a small pavilion within the site.
TERRITORIAL MAPPING
Working at three different scales, the territorial mapping team considered the possibility for how the techniques of slowing water and rehabilitating the local vegetation could be applied at other ravines around the valley. They also calculated the amount of water that could be captured within a series of dams, which could then collectively supply the water requirements for the whole of Oaxaca city. At the scale of El Pedregal, a drone was used to create a high resolution 3D survey of the site to assist in future proposals.
CATALOGUE OF INTERVENTIONS
Working at the scale of Barranca El Pedregal, this group produced a variety of different possible interventions which could be deployed through out the site. These designed interventions consider how architectural typologies such as shelters, lookout zones or retaining walls might be designed to have additional functions of water harvesting and accumulation.
MATERIAL INVESTIGATIONS
Through a process of experimentation with the material carisso, this team constructed an entry pavilion. Making use of a plentiful local resource and simple techniques of weaving and tying they developed an innovative and flexible structural system.
CREDITS
Director: Jose Alfredo Ramirez is an architect co-founder and Director of Groundlab the AA Landscape Urbanism program and the AA Mexico Visiting School. Territorial Mapping Tutors: Gustavo Romanillos & Liam Mouritz Students: Migeul Salas, Ernesto Perez Rea Junca, Salvador Sevilla Kamar, Pablo Germenos, Emily Wong, Lauren Hickling. Catalogue of Deployment Tutors: Adriana Chavez & Francisco Quinones Students: Daniela Resandiz, Adriana Ruiz Maza, Aneli Xochitemo Perez, Luis Oscar Osio Grasso, Jaime Alexis Nanez Ayala, Melissa Romo Serrano. Material Investigations Tutors: Jose Hesner Sanchez & Jose Manuel Arnaud Bello Students: Daniel Otte, Percibald Garcia, Armando Palacios, Jose Manuel, Jose Alfredo. Thanks to our guests and friends: Juan Jose Consejo, Claudina de Gyves and all people we met along the way, Fabricio, Tandee, Edmundo, ToĂąo and Beatriz.