MXDF Book by natalia barrientos

MXdf

Architecture Studio

Una Propuesta Urbana para Xochimilco by California College of the Arts University of California Berkeley Universidad Iberoamericana. Departamento de Arquitectura

CCA

Jose Brunner 6 Tyler Deutscher 8 Omar Garzon 10 Jonathan Manzo 11 Anna Gontar 12 Donald Gonzales 16 Rosannah Harding 18 C. Zee Metheny 20 Roberto Miranda 22 Joze Zajc 23 Yu Tsuji 26 Fernanda Vuilleumier 28

We would like to thank for their generous financial contributions:

CHINAMPAS

Ila Berman

Chair of Architecture, California College of the Arts

Luis Villafranca

Coordinador de la Carrera de Arquitectura de la Universidad Iberoamericana, Ciudad de Mexico

Dean Harrison Fraker

College of Environmental Design, U.C. Berkeley

Thank you to the many friends that spent hours reviewing the students’ work, and the students themselves for contributing texts and drawings.

UCB

Veronica De La Rosa 34 David Gregory 36 Elena Tomlinson 37 Ying Hao 38 Iván López Castro 39 Mick Khavari 42 Jungmoo Lee 44 Kichul Lee 46 William Ogle 48 Asa Prentice 50 Anders Rotstein 54 Gisela Schmoll 56 Christian Tipping 58 Bin Wang 60 Brian Washburn 62

UIA

Enrique Acosta & Santiago Solana Ana Sofía Bracamontes & Mariana Gil Ania Calderon & Jerónimo Jiménez Alma Cecilia Ceballos & Patricia Gutierrez Adriana Chávez & Gabriela Etchegaray Alejandra de la Cerda & Beatriz de Regil Domingo Delaroiere & Juan Carlos de la Riva Mariano Maldonado & Georgina Ramirez Alejandra de la Mora & Geovanna Preciado Daniel Mastretta & Guillermo Gonzáles Jorge Mustri & Arturo Urruchua Francisco Patiño & Ernesto Zelayarán

66 68 70 72 73 76 78 80 81 84 86 88

Staged during the Spring of 2007, the MXDF studio was the first of a series of international architectural laboratories developing proposals that increase awareness of the role that the architecture, planning and landscape disciplines can play in refashioning the environment while simultaneously preserving its most salient characteristics and allowing for change and progress. Under the guidance of architecture professors Sandra Vivanco, Isaac Broid, Luis de Villafranca, Mauricio Rocha and Rene Davids, the joint studio brought together graduate and undergraduate students from the schools of architecture of the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City (UIA), the California College of the Arts in San Francisco (CCA) and University of California at Berkeley (UCB). The program for the studio was an archeological museum and botanical garden in the San Juan neighborhood of Xochimilco, Mexico DF. The studio focused on the Xochimilco area of Mexico City that is well known for its extended series of canals - all that remains of the ancient system of lakes stretching for most of the valley of Anahuac in the middle of which Tenochtitlan, the impressive capital of the Aztecs, was located. Drained originally by the conquistadores to reproduce the conditions found most commonly in Spain, the lakebed is presently occupied almost entirely by Mexico City. The loss of the subterranean water has produced an ecological disaster including, the gradual sinking of large parts of the city, loss of habitat, native vegetation and traditional sound agricultural methods to cultivate in the middle of the water called chinampas.

Book Design by Mick Khavari with Production Assistance by Daniel Mastretta & Zee Metheny

Often referred to, incorrectly, as “floating gardens”, the chinampas were stationary artificial islands that were created by staking out the shallow lakebed and then fencing in the rectangle with wattle. The fenced-off area was then layered with mud, lake sediment, and decaying vegetation, eventually bringing it above the level of the lake.

Chinampas were separated by channels wide enough for a canoe to pass. Xochimilco is today a deteriorating area that lives under the constant threat of losing its distinctiveness with the growing relentless advance of the capital city and the pollution of the waters. Thirty-two California students and faculty traveled south in early January of 2007 to familiarize themselves with the cultural, historical and architectural richness of Mexico City. They produced short videos and documented twenty archeological pieces to serve as the “permanent collection” for their museum proposal. Two months later, forty-three Mexican students and faculty visited the Bay Area to review the projects together. Site and project information was exchanged throughout the semester via a regularly updated webbased blog: http://mxdfstudio.blogspot.com/ This book aspires to record the exhibition at the Mexican Consulate in San Francisco and the joint mid semester review held at the California College of the Arts. Now that interest in preserving topographic features, ecological balance and unique landscapes is on the rise as cities around the world increase in size, consume land and become less differentiated, this publication seeks to disseminate consciousness about the environment and the positive role that architecture, landscape and urban design can play by recording the results of the studio into a book that features a selection of student work and includes essays by the professors who led the parallel studios.

CCA

Sandra Vivanco

Associate Professor of Architecture California College of the Arts The most memorable lesson in a traveling architecture studio often happens by chance. Much like the stranger we meet on a foreign train who, by the end of that trip, provides the key to a new cultural understanding. Language is often chosen as the vehicle to communicate knowledge. Similarly, the way in which we document a site will color our understanding of that particular place and time.

Our premise was deceivingly simple. To create a public gathering place that looks at archeology within its native cultural landscape. We proceeded to gradually unveil Xochimilco as not only a mythical place of memory, but the only remaining physical vestige of the original Mexico City - the ancient Tenochtitlan – that was a labyrinth of canals transporting people and goods throughout the vibrant capital of the Aztec empire. The design research consciously shifted scales and mediums of exploration. A brief outline, meant to be read continuously left to right, follows: MACRO Ecology of landscape Video as experiential travelogue Siting: setting camp Stitching inhabitation with outdoors Blurring boundaries

MICRO Archeology of object Programmatic approach Tectonic strategy Exploring building materiality Simultaneous (t)here

The MXDF studio was keenly aware of shifting notions of time and place and the ebb and flow of natural elements like tide and atmospheric pressure, brought to life by human rituals. The students started by familiarizing themselves with the site. They explored it on land and water and gathered their first impressions in a col-

laborative video. The class recorded textures, rituals and rhythms of life along the canals. We asked them to translate the resulting cinematic progression into a spatial sequence through that initially unfamiliar landscape. This was the framework within which the students started placing the Mexica objects they had carefully studied. Issues of scale, light, texture and landscape soon became paramount in their graphic explorations. Next was the carving of the programmatic elements that collectively gave form to the archeological museum and ecological park. The students refined the dialogue between the surrounding landscape and the structures sheltering the different artifacts. While mediating them through the thoughtful use of historic and experiential time, the studio created a tectonic strategy at once appropriate and energizing. Finally, their choice of materials and articulation stitched together places of pause, gathering, reflection and displacement. Each was considered in relationship to others, its immediate surroundings, and its placement relative to the neighborhood at large. Throughout this process, there was a growing awareness of the importance of Mexica pieces within the history of the Americas and the world In this way, we hope the students experienced a time continuum that will guide their future architectural choices.

Poco a poco descubrimos Xochimilco, no sólo como un lugar mítico sino también como un vestigio de Tenochtitlán, un laberinto de canales que transportaban bienes y gente a través de la capital Azteca.

CCA

Jose Brunner B.Arch RECLAIMING LANDSCAPE Xochimilco, an environmental and cultural sanctuary which flourished from innovative agriculture, has endured various changes during its extensive history. Once a retreat for urban dwellers escaping Mexico City, the location has become now a reminder of a lost landscape. Due to the increasing needs of automobile circulation, and rapid urban development, the location has lost its original form, leaving only barren streams and contaminated rivers as tourist attractions.

A study of the area’s existing conditions, ranging from natural to artificial, was made in order to concentrate on a specific site which would host a variety of community programs in order to revive the area’s essence. Three linked locations where selected and inspired a series of sculptural gestures in an attempt to define the water’s edge. The museum’s design aims to provoke a moment of contemplation between exhibition spaces and canal water. Streams are seduced into the museum’s permanent exhibition space, and continue to circulate around the perimeter. Circulation paths are sculpted from the absence of water in order to convey barren rivers. An observation deck hovers above the outdoor amphitheater, which is surrounded by an open canal. A community areawith classrooms and workshop spaces for local artisans is located across the street and accessible from underground at canal level. Botanical gardens were placed at a distance from the museum in order to obtain a sense of serenity and isolation within the chaotic environment. Upon entering the gardens, a sloped surface dives into the nearest canal and forms a communication between the city’s Main Boulevard and the water’s edge.

CCA

Tyler Deutscher B.Arch MXDF: Xochimilco Museum Multicultural Active Prolonged Engagement Museum Mexico City, Mexico 2007 The desire to inhabit the Ejidos on the Chinampas was the basis of form. The land-space of the Ejido is a common local space granted by the government for the growth of native plants sold for personal income. Secondary, was the mixing of cultures within an indigenous setting. Through a layout of land use of private, semi private and public use spaces evolved to house the artifacts in the same layout as ejidos on chinampas.

External materials of copper siding represents public program while zinc siding represents private program. These sheeted siding materials have the etchings upon them of the process of land distribution. Programmatic elements are pushed into the air with the ejidos above the structure. The ejido gardens have many colorful native flowers and crops for sale to generate an income operated by locals upon the land. Irrigation systems upon the rooftops move water downwards back to the site. Within the structure there are vast open plan spaces allowing for programatic changes for new artifacts and gallery exhibits. The main egress from the light rail line is directly to the water that surrounds the site. Since the museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s form is composed of satellites structures, local boats a necessary means of egress in order to connect visitors tot he indigenous surrounding.

CCA

Omar Garzon B.Arch

Jonathan Manzo B.Arch XO: Casa Cultura

Arqueologia Urbana La intencion de esta propuesta esta basada en el Plan Maestro AJO. El Plan Maestro AJO tiene como objetivo principal localizar y ocupar propiedades que actualmente esten desocupadas en el Barrio San Juan y asi hacer el Embarcadero Fernando Celada el epicentro de la actividad para el nuevo Museo de Arqueologia de Xochimilco.

Asi como la arqueologia localiza objetos de nuestros antepasados en diferentes lugares y los archiva basado a su localizacion, esta propuesta pretende tener diferentes galerias dispersas en el Barrio San Juan y asi hacer que el participante haga un recorrido por el barrio y tener la experiencia de esta busqueda que lo llevara a distintos puntos de interes en el barrio y haci hacer el barrio una exposicion viva. Las galerias actuan como objetos en la fabrica urbana que remueven al participante del caos de la ciudad y expresan el uso original de los objetos y su relacion con la luz natural. Los objetos son mostrados bajo la luz natural y dependiendo de su uso original, la luz es controlada con aperturas en el techo de las galerias.

The master plan and design of the Casa Cultura is derived from research into the urban fabric of Xochimilco. The master plan attempts to reconnect the site to the larger urban context and speculates another iteration of a constructed landscape. The Casa Cultura rises from the reconstructed urban chinampas. Not simply a respository of artifacts the Casa Cultura seeks to re-think the museum as not only a cultural institution but also a center of community services. Master Plan: CITY EDGE: AGRICULTURAL RING / UNAM EXPANSION The city is surrounded by a mix of agricultural land and ecological preserves. A satellite campus of Unam is created. CREATION OF THE URBAN CHINAMPAS: The chinampas, a constructed landscape dating back to precolonial mexico has historically been a working agricultural landscape. Under this plan an Urban chinampas zone will be created. These zones will support both housing and agriculture. CITY CORE: EXTENSION OF LIGHT RAIL, SCULPTURE PROMENADE & CASA CULTURA

CCA

Anna Gontar B.Arch The Chinampas are a constructed system, where each layer has unique characteristics and program. In order for this selfsufficient environment to exist, all elements of the layers need to be intertwined. These layers are integrated in a linear condition or a common horizon line. The same process is applied to the design of the Anthropology Museum, where the museum starts to define its own system of X, Y and Z. It stands independent from the existing horizon line of the site. The Museum sits above and below ground level since the condition is constantly redefined. As urbanism moves in to the site, the layers start to add on and our concept of what we know as ground begins to change. 12

CCA

Donald Gonzales B.Arch

The ground conditions of Mexico City are truly remarkable. Much of Mexico City is constructed atop layers of ancient debris, and nowhere is this layering more apparent, than the area of Xochimilco, and its network of chinampas. As the city rapidly expands, the system of chinampas unique to Xochimilco quickly disappears. Roads fill canals, while island farms are developed. By exposing these intriguing conditions, I hope to accommodate both the growing needs of an intensely populated city, and sensitivity to an historic site. In this project, the method of exposure is simple: By peeling back the urban fabric former canals emerge. Similarly, inserting structure into existing chinampas reveals the man-made nature of the islands. The location of the various programmatic elements was determined with a simple table, comparing the number of square meters available with the number of square meters needed. The building forms took the shape of the plots available. Any shifting or re-shaping necessary to accommodate the program was done in section, preserving any existing â&#x20AC;&#x153;groundâ&#x20AC;? surfaces and using them as roofs, further exploiting the tenuous ground planes.

CCA

Rosannah Harding B.Arch Archeological Center Xochimilco, Mexico City The studio project was based in Mexico City, specifically in Xochimilco. The context in which the intervention is derived has many layers and years of urban, social, and cultural growth. The proposed archeological museum is intended to spark a new urban center, reviving the forgotten cultural hub. It becomes a place in which the public of the metropolis may come to learn, reflect, and discover more about the history of the city and its people.

CCA

C. Zee Metheny B.Arch This approach was an exploration in weaving orthogonal representations of urbanization with an existing canal system and agricultural, man-made land masses. By focusing on the program as an impeding force cutting into the green-space and water way, the masses are pushed and pulled vertically by the â&#x20AC;&#x153;naturalâ&#x20AC;? conditions. The rectilinear program spaces were derived from a study of the lots that were imposed on the land by the Spaniards when the land was divided up for agricultural purposes. The greenspaces were influenced by the chinampas, and are not only grown out of the existing chinampas but are overtaking the imposing urbanization. 20

The program contains an archaeological museum divided into zones based on the size the of work, gradually decreasing from large works to small detail works. This journey climaxes in a very large sunken gallery space consisting of very large sculptures. Light is diffused into the spaces through curvilinear slits in the greenspace above. Sliding overtop of the museum is a cafe, bookstore, view spots, offices, research room, a local art gallery, and a local market space. The beginning of the museum journey starts at the entrance on the main tourist thoroughfare, moves over the first canal, under the second canal, and ends at the outdoor amphitheater. The local journey begins in a rural neighborhood, moves over the first canal through an indoor/outdoor market space, through a local art gallery space, outside and over the second canal to a gathering space, and back inside to the cafe and bookstore. The outdoor green-spaces are ringed with shade trees, emulating the chinampas and defining a curved weaving edge condition.

CCA

Roberto Miranda B.Arch

Joze Zajc B.Arch 10 METERS

section

Collecting Artifacts

Xochimilco, built on resistance against nature and the demand of an expanding city, this eclectic environment is a mixture of dense housing, congested roads and lush gardens. As one weaves through the neighborhoods one experiences a new method of organization and order. Public and private spaces are blurred and property lines seem inexistent. The museum has the potential to give its neighbors a place to culturally reflect and discover more about their history.

scale= 1:500

THIRD FLOOR

scale= 1:200

The intention of this archeological museum project was to create a juxtaposition of the urban fabric with the chinampas. The concept was inspired by the ingenious chinampa construction and the compression of congestion of this historical land use by the urban needs of today. There are two components of the museum; first, the permanent structure which would house local artifacts scale= 1:200 of the Mexican collection, and second, a temporary exhibit space which is an open grid system that changes depending on the space needed for the visiting guests as well as an endless possibility VS of circulation and exhibit configurations. In addition, the local street circulation is untouched and is invited to move freely through these exhibit spaces.

6 METERS

scale= 1:500

SECOND FLOOR

1 METERS

scale= 1:500

FIRST FLOOR

16 15

7 23 9

19 6

10 25

5 3

The concept behind the museum is to experience a distinctive walk through Xochimilco that encourages a connection between the surrounding neighborhoods and the canals. The series of substantial concrete walls relate its materiality to the existing neighborhood while also providing a location for artifacts to be displayed. The linear journey through the museum starts at the dense embarcadero and maneuvers through the lush Chinapas (man-made agricultural islands) until it embraces the existing neighborhood on the opposite side. Having no roof and exposing the museum to the natural elements emphasizes the deliberate association between art and nature. When one walks through the space whether it is at midnight, noon, sunny or raining the complacent visitor experiences the artifacts differently every time.

4 2 1

PRIVATE SPACES PERMANENT EXHIBITS TEMPORARY EXHIBITS OPEN PUBLIC SPACES

24.storage

8. permanent exhibits 1. public entrance 9. research desks 2. permanent exhibits 10. temporary exhibits 3. permanent exhibits 11. Auditorium 4. permanent exhibits 12. womens bathroom 5. permanent exhibits 13. storage 6. temporary exhibits 7. bookstore/ information desk 14. research library 25. docks

15. permanent exhibits 16. temporary exhibits 17. administration ofďŹ ces 18. mens bathroom

19. resturant/ observation 20. permanent exhibits 21. temporary exhibits 22. administration ofďŹ ces

23. observation deck

20 ARTIFACTS

2,800

100 50

CCA

Program Area Requirements

Yu Tsuji B.Arch

BOTANICAL GARDEN

ENTRY LOBBY,VESTIBULE, INFORMATION DESK BATHROOMS

180

ADMINISTRATION OFFICES

100

BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS

100

STORAGE

100

REPAIR/CURATORIAL FACILITIES

100

LOADING DOCK

170

AMPHITHEATER

200

CAFETERIA

100

BOOKSTORE, GIFT STORE

100

RESEARCH LIBRARY, ARCHIVES

150

AUDITORIUM

300

TRAJINERA DOCK

AREA (M2)

LOADING DOCK

STORAGE

REPAIR/ CURATORIAL

When Europeans arrived in Mexico, the landscape was far different from today. The area that would become Mexico City had large lakes spotted with islands that were connected by bridges. Human settlements depended on their proximity to the lakes.

STORAGE

BUILDINGS/ GROUNDS

BATHROOMS

Program distribution

BOTANICAL GARDEN

ENTRY LOBBY,VESTIBULE, INFORMATION DESK BATHROOMS

180

ADMINISTRATION OFFICES

100

BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS

100

STORAGE

OUTDOOR GALLERY

1. Program is distributed across the chinampa, but organized by axes.

AUDITORIUM

TEMPORARY EXHIBITS

2,800

BOOKSTORE/ GIFT STORE

BATHROOMS

BOOKSTORE/ GIFT STORE

RESEARCH LIBRARY/ GALLERY 2 ARCHIVES BUILDINGS/GROUNDS

PERMANENT EXHIBIT

1,500

OUTDOOR GALLERY

PROGRAM

1,500

100

LOADING DOCK ENTRY

ADMIN

GALLERY 1

AMPHITHEATER

ADMIN

ENTRY

CAFETERIA

TRAJINERA DOCK REPAIR/CURATORIAL

CAFETERIA

TRAJINERA DOCK

Program Area Requirements

RESEARCH LIBRARY/ ARCHIVES INDOOR GALLERY INDOOR GALLERY

BOTANICAL GARDEN

2. Public program spaces are located at key points along the axes.

AUDITORIUM

3. Circulation connects the entry, galleries, and botanical garden.

100

REPAIR/CURATORIAL FACILITIES

100

LOADING DOCK

170

AMPHITHEATER

200

CAFETERIA

100

BOOKSTORE, GIFT STORE

100

RESEARCH LIBRARY, ARCHIVES

150

AUDITORIUM

300

TRAJINERA DOCK

INDOOR GALLERY

RESEARCH LIBRARY/ ARCHIVES

INDOOR GALLERY

RESEARCH LIBRARY/ ARCHIVES

BOTANICAL GARDEN

AREA (M2)

PROGRAM

1,500

PERMANENT EXHIBIT

1,500

TEMPORARY EXHIBITS

2,800

BOTANICAL GARDEN

BOOKSTORE/ GIFT STORE

1:200

Galleries and Park

With the spread of development and the rapid loss of water, Xochimilco today has had a reversal of this land/water relationship. The canals act as a border between the urban and agricultural, although some chinampas are densely settled.

Can the chinampas be developed without removing its character? Conversely, can nature be preserved while allowing for human presence?

Gallery spaces for temporary exhibits ﬁll in open areas. Canted walls create the appearance of the ground being cut and lifted. Artifacts are displayed behind glass. The galleries are both landscape and pathway, leading the viewer from one space to the next.

CAFETERIA

1:200 100 50

RESEARCH LIBRARY/ ARCHIVES

REPAIR/CURATORIAL

ENTRY LOBBY,VESTIBULE, INFORMATION DESK BATHROOMS

180

ADMINISTRATION OFFICES

100

BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS

100

STORAGE

LOADING DOCK ENTRY

BATHROOMS

ADMIN

GALLERY 1

STORAGE AMPHITHEATER

BOOKSTORE/ GIFT STORE

Program distribution

RESEARCH LIBRARY/ GALLERY 2 ARCHIVES BUILDINGS/GROUNDS

1. Program is distributed across the chinampa, but organized by axes.

AUDITORIUM

AMPHITHEATER

Program Area Requirements AUDITORIUM

BOTANICAL GARDEN

100

REPAIR/CURATORIAL FACILITIES

100

LOADING DOCK

170

AMPHITHEATER

200

CAFETERIA

100

BOOKSTORE, 1 GIFT STORE

100

RESEARCH LIBRARY, ARCHIVES

150

AUDITORIUM

2. Public program spaces are located at key points along the axes. 3. Circulation connects the entry, galleries, and botanical garden.

AUDITORIUM

RESEARCH LIBRARY/ ARCHIVES REPAIR/ CURATORIAL

BATHROOMS

AUDITORIUM

Galleries and Park 300

REPAIR/CURATORIAL

ENTRY BOOKSTORE/ GIFT STORE

STORAGE AMPHITHEATER

CAFETERIA

LOADING DOCK ENTRY

BATHROOMS

ADMIN

GALLERY 1

GALLERY 2

TRAJINERA DOCK

CAFETERIA

TRAJINERA DOCK

GALLERY 1

Whether with people or nature, all areas are filled with constant change. But preservation is a push towards statis. While the city adapts to new conditions, the constructed memory of the chinampas remains the same...

CAFETERIA

TRAJINERA DOCK

BOOKSTORE/ GIFT STORE

Program distribution

RESEARCH LIBRARY/ GALLERY 2 ARCHIVES BUILDINGS/GROUNDS AUDITORIUM

BATHROOMS

1:200

RESEARCH LIBRARY/ ARCHIVES

1. Program is distributed across the chinampa, but organized by axes.

BOTANICAL GARDEN

RESEARCH LIBRARY/ ARCHIVES REPAIR/ CURATORIAL

AMPHITHEATER AUDITORIUM

1:200

2. Public program spaces are located at key points along the axes.

BOTANICAL GARDEN

3. Circulation connects the entry, galleries, and botanical garden.

1:2000

Galleries and Park

CAFETERIA

ENTRY BOOKSTORE/ GIFT STORE

GALLERY 1

GALLERY 2

RESEARCH LIBRARY/ ARCHIVES AMPHITHEATER AUDITORIUM

AREA (M2)

PROGRAM

1,500

PERMANENT EXHIBIT

1,500

TEMPORARY EXHIBITS

2,800

BOTANICAL GARDEN

3 100 50

Program Area Requirements

ENTRY LOBBY,VESTIBULE, INFORMATION DESK

1:2000

BATHROOMS

180

ADMINISTRATION OFFICES

100

BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS

100

STORAGE

100

REPAIR/CURATORIAL FACILITIES

100

LOADING DOCK

170

AMPHITHEATER

200

CAFETERIA

100

BOOKSTORE, GIFT STORE

100

RESEARCH LIBRARY, ARCHIVES

150

AUDITORIUM

300

TRAJINERA DOCK

RESEARCH LIBRARY/ ARCHIVES INDOOR GALLERY

ENTRY BOOKSTORE/ GIFT STORE

GALLERY 1

STORAGE

LOADING DOCK ENTRY

BATHROOMS

ADMIN

GALLERY 1

1:2000

BOOKSTORE/ GIFT STORE

RESEARCH LIBRARY/ GALLERY 2 ARCHIVES BUILDINGS/GROUNDS AUDITORIUM

BOTANICAL GARDEN

CAFETERIA

TRAJINERA DOCK REPAIR/CURATORIAL

AMPHITHEATER

GALLERY 2

Program distribution 1. Program is distributed across the chinampa, but organized by axes.

2. Public program spaces are located at key

BOOKSTORE/GIFTSHOP

CCA

Fernanda Vuilleumier M.Arch Layering de afuera hacia adentro de un Centro Cultural 2007 Este programa fue diseñado por medio del “layering” desde afuera hacia adentro que manifiesta diseño de los jardines exteriores, fotografía, bosquejos, dibujos, mapas fotográficos, escenografía escalonada a través del edificio con características distintivas, tanto naturales así como hechas por el hombre. El acto de esculpir la escenografía tiene el propósito de hacerla mas atractiva y útil por medio de la superposición de niveles que proporcionan múltiples capas de conocimiento e información.

El proyecto integra el escenario por layering desde afuera hacia adentro. Esto se aplica como un método para mantener la independencia, fluctuación y evolución de información conocida y sus componentes. En los planos arquitectónicos se aplico también la superposición de niveles en los alzados: el producto de súper posicionar varias fachadas dentro del proyecto como un todo.

MARCH 21, 2007

California College of the Arts, San Francisco

MID-REVIEW 30

UCB

Rene Davids

Professor of Architectue & Urban Design UC Berkeley The MXDF Studio, named after an abbreviation of Ciudad México Distrito Federal, or Mexico D. F., the official name of Mexico City, was conducted during Spring Semester 2007 with participation by undergraduate students from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, graduate and undergraduate students from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, and graduate students from the Department of Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. The aim of the studio was to investigate how a physical and conceptual understanding of the landscape can enrich current forms of architectural and urban design practice.

As its area of operation, MXDF Studio chose the Xochimilco district in Mexico City. Its pre-Columbian network of canals is the only remain of an ancient system of lakes that once extended throughout most of the valley of Anahuac, also known as the Valley of Mexico. Lake Texcoco occupied a great extension of the Valley of Mexico, in the middle of which was located the island capital of the Aztecs: Tenochtitlan. The lake was subsequently drained by Mexico’s Spanish conquerors to create a landscape more familiar to them, and today the lakebed is occupied almost entirely by Mexico City. The presence of a high subterranean water table poses serious ecological challenges for the metropolis, causing large areas of the city to sink, a loss of habitat for native vegetation, and the disappearance of chinampas, used for cultivation of crops in traditional agricultural practice. Often described erroneously as “floating gardens”, the chinampas are stationary artificial islands created by staking out areas in the shallow lake bed that are then fenced off and layered with enough mud, lake sediment and decaying vegetation to bring them above the level of the surrounding water. The chinampas are separated by channels wide enough for a canoe to pass through so that the crops planted on them can be harvested.

In proposing an archeological museum and botanical garden in Xochimilco, the MXDF Studio chose a program that explores a collective perception of public space inclusive of the natural environment as its essential component. Mexico’s pre-Columbian architecture was informed by a mythical relationship to the landscape and the setting once populated by chinampas provided a poignant example of nature recreated as a cultural artifact that is informed by social, economic and political desires. The MXDF Studio worked with expanded definitions of gardens, parks and plazas, as wells as building types such as museums and urban infrastructure, but adopted a more flexible design strategy borrowed in part from ecology that accepted change and blurred the distinctions between the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture and engineering. In approaching Xochimilco in this manner, the MXDF Studiosought to enhance and reinforce the intrinsically dynamic ecological and topographical qualities of the site, an approach intentionally opposed to some current prevailing notions that equate identity with stagnation. The Studio argued instead that the seeds of Xochimilco’s renewal and regeneration can be found by re-establishing a continuum of connections with its own unique history. Thus the contents of the museum were perceived not as historical artifacts but as objects with meaning and significance for an ever-changing present. Overpopulated, polluted, and poor, contemporary Xochimilco demonstrates the limitations inherent in confrontations with environments degraded by economic and natural forces. With its constructed islands, rich sediments, indigenous trees, Xochimilco was both site and paradigm, but as living archeology, it has the potential to become a place that simultaneously contains its own history, and the beginnings of a future city.

El maravilloso paisaje artificialmente construído de Xochimilco constituyó el sitio así como el modelo de trabajo para nuestro taller de arquitectura.

UCB

Veronica De La Rosa M.Arch Layered Multiplicity Mexico is a city of a multiplicity of historical and cultural layers of meaning. With its rich history and vibrant activities the public realm is a condition where old and new often conflate. It is the goal of the building proposal to emphasize these conditions. In Xochimilco recreation, agriculture work and residences inhabit their own worlds. In order to reclaim a multiplicity of readings presently lost the canal is brought up against the main street of Av. Guadalupe I.Ramirez on the southern border of the site and the building is proposed as a delineator between the artificial canal and city fabric. 34

The landscape proposal also accentuates the artificiality of the chinampas with the design of two round floating geometric islands integrated into a system of smaller buoy like tufts of vegetation that guide the trajineras to the museum. One island is designated as botanical garden while the other functions as an agricultural complex. Connecting the islands to the building is an organization of boardwalk and piers that mediate the water and land proposals.This duality is also extended to the museum. The building is designed as two arms that divide the galleries into anthropological and contemporary exhibits, while all other supporting programmatic pieces are thought of as insertions that run counter to the flow of these galleries. Their function is to bring the everyday into the context of the gallery. As a result of the program organizationa layering of events and sequences are established. Gallery pieces are framed by views to the landscape and People performing their daily routines . The museum design thus emerges out of the rich and vibrant character of Mexican life and embodies it simultaneously.

UCB

David Gregory M.Arch

Elena Tomlinson M.Arch

Arriving by air and via Google Earth, we see the city: abstract patterns; the fractal hills and basic geometries of reservoirs and salt ponds.

Xochimilco exists between two conflicting conditions: the fragile ecosystem of the chinampas, and the uncontrolled urbanization stemming from the growing need for housing of Mexico City’s inhabitants. The latter – migrant population exercising their otherwise indisputable ‘right to the city’ – threatens to encroach into the canals and the islands. The introduction of a new urban condition in this relatively instable environment could be a way to mediate both the needs of the community and initiate a conservation effort.

On the street, we find monuments and markets; tangled wires and a quiet place behind a smooth wall; dark damp cool and the hot dusty bright.

We begin with an urban proposition; to connect the city center to its water and garden history across a grand plaza. Below, between plaza level and water line, the museum’s conservatory functions are contained in the cool recesses of an extensive matbuilding. Above the plaza, casting shade, the supporting program: food, books, and views. And in between, the movement of people, boats, goods for sale, flowers from the islands. Past, present, future.

Restoring the ecosystem of the quickly disappearing chinampas, requires a different attitude vis-à-vis the program of the museum. This project proposes a rethinking the exhibition space and extending its curatorial purpose to an open venue for the local community. Rather than conceiving of the museum as an architectural object, this project proposes a non-building, a hybrid, where the land and built element come together forming a patchwork of parcels, canals, exhibition, community market, outdoor theatre, with no barriers for the public. The organizational unit for the landscape is the agricultural parcel which echoes in size and proportion the land division of the surrounding neighborhood. The parcels are divided and irrigated by small canals that run transversal to the site, and larger canals that run longitudinal, along the museum wings. Parcels can be rented by the neighboring community for practicing agriculture. Canyons run across the grain of the canals and longitudinally across the site, becoming an extension of the arms of the museum. The canyons will accommodate an outdoor market and community activities.

CONCEPT SKETCHES

UCB Ying Hao M.Arch

UCB

This proposal addresses urban problems to create intriguing architecture-landscape spaces and environments. The project focuses on transforming the area from the current chaos into a more rational and healthy urban environment. The scheme reorganizes the road system, integrates the open spaces, enlarges the current embarcadero and adds a new one.

Instead of being just a single building, the museum is a new layer added to the existing system of islands and neighborhoods.

SITE PLAN 1” = 1/64” The main concept of architectural and landscape design is similar to a needle going through pieces of velvet. The building is narrow and pierces through the ground. The windowless south facade prevents the strong sunlight and protects the exhibits, SITE PLAN while the transparent north facade supports great communication between interior spaces and the outdoor landscape. The landscape design is striped in ways that suggests the local farming fabric.

Iván López Castro M.Arch

It operates by the same way, but different, on each side of the channel; by one side it extends over the island and by the other side infills the urban fabric. This way, the proposal becomes a mechanism encouraging exploring and showing the place, its singularities, the historical and cultural context of the archeological Section 1”=1/32” pieces, the urban fabric, and the agricultural chinampa system and its crops. 1” = 1/64”

The project proposes to keep the island alive as a production device, taking the island’s artificial landscape and layout, its seasonal cycles, changes and variations as a part of the museum’s collection.

The flower farming is proposed on the island, to further suggest the idea of velvet. The architecture and the landscape together form a harmonious environment that acts gracefully on the urban stage.

GROUND LEVEL PLAN (CUT FROM +5FT)

UNDERGROUND LEVEL PLAN (CUT FROM -5FT)

1” = 1/16”

UNDERGROUND LEVEL PLAN (CUT FROM -5FT)

1” = 1/16”

UPPERGROUND LEVEL PLAN (CUT FROM 15FT)

In order to do this, the museum’s main building is perforated, cutting through it and extending its mass and program over the island in the form of a network of boardwalks and pavilions intended to carry archeological pieces or expositions related to the plantations and crops, thus creating the support (or frame) to show the chinampa agricultural system the same way the existing walls of the houses do for the courtyards, framing and using them as exterior exposition halls.

1” = 1/16”

Ground Level 1/16”=1’-0”

1” = 1/16”

JAN 11TH 3:30 PM

CROSS SECTION 1” = 1/4”

LONGITUDINAL SECTION 1” = 1/16”

Section

1st Level 1/16”=1’-0”

Terrace Level 1/16”=1’-0”

UCB

Mick Khavari M.Arch A31 0 0Â¸

A31 / /Â¸

In the midst of a zone developed by accretion this project re-establishes a rational order influenced by ancient banding patterns of regional agriculture rather than turning to the spanish colonial grid visible just outside the accretion zone. The geometries and orientation of this banding pattern are evident in the overall site plan.

@==4 >:/<

A31 0 0Â¸

A31 / /Â¸

C>>3@ 4:==@

Sited on a previously orphaned chinampa, the museum itself serves as a an actual connection (symbolic and circulatory) to the parent network of islands, thereby establishing a larger contiguous tract of chinampas communicating the feel and scale of the historical lanscape. The building possesses a duality of building material. Heavy concrete protects from the afternoon sun in the west and south. The north and east are dominated by a tranlucent glazing system.

A31 / /Â¸

5@=C<2 4:==@

A31 0 0Â¸

Access to the musuem by road and rail is primarily from the west and south. The canal has been extended to the southern road artery to provide visitors and passersby with a more direct visual connection with the building and expanding the sense of its island existence. A wide access cut through the building on an axis complimentary to the building orientation in plan provides both entrance access to the museum AND access to the botanical gardens for frequent repeat visitors Botanical gardens filled with local plants hightlight the flower types grown in the region. The gardens are aligned orthogonally in a similar orientation to the ancient banding and the geometries diffuse moving westward, devolving into a bosque scattered with wildflower.

A31 0 0Â¸

A31 / /Â¸

UCB

Jungmoo Lee M.Arch Sinking, diminishing and dissolving in the silence of time.

Xochimilco holds a history of water, land and the people of Mexico in its geologically and socio-culturally multi-layered site. Archeology, a metaphor for heavy and dark, is about a memory of an immeasurable scale of time. The memory is buried in between layers and layers of history. Sinking the building into the ground creates short-cut to this memory. Two crossed long and narrow directional linear galleries are buried into the ground. Exhibition spaces geometrically and optically dissolve into the site with the light that comes from the narrow linear slits that connect to the water canals designed on the islandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surface to irrigate the ecological parks of the islands through pixilated grid patterns.

unit

UCB

unit

Kichul Lee M.Arch Mexico City has many un-programmed urban events such as street markets and performance that make it distinctive from other modern cities.

unit

This project focuses on keeping the continuity of the urban context and achieving flexibility to adapt un-programmed urban events.

Free access to the site is achieved by extending the surrounding street pattern into the site. By taking these routes people may find themselves almost by accident in the museum spaces. These are made flexible through the vertical movement of shutters and spindle gears that allow for a variety of exhibition spaces and can accommodate unprogrammed activities.

NON-PROGRAMATIC SPACE

Mexico City

has many un-programmatic urban events such as street market and performance in square. These networking which people are making in urban context are one of important factor to be distinctive from other modern cities. This project is focusing on two things. First is to make a continuance between the urban context around site and the site. Second is flexibility to adapt un-programmatic urban networking in the public museum site. For the open space museum in the middle of city, grid system of surrounding site extended inside site and this allow people free access into site. Those circulations of people can melt into the flexible and unbound space of each exhibition unit to enjoy various exterior or interior activities. The flexibility of exhibition space is a long-time question of architecture. Through vertical movement shutter and spindle gear system, combination of units can make a number of different special compose for various exhibition types and can accommodate the activities of urban un-programmatic activities.

NO unit

UCB

William Ogle M.Arch Mexico City was founded a thousand years ago on a lake which has resulted in intense differential settlement throughout the city. With the desire to create permanent fixtures/memories, our project proposes to reinforce and support the existing buildings on the Xochimilco island with concrete piles. The ground surface is then planted with malleable garden beds that change over decades/centuries to show the impermanence of the place against the permanent buildings. Finally a network is instantiated from the existing pedestrian walkways to weave the existing buildings and the local gardens into a new urban fabric that would remain in flux.

The botanical gardens are made up of beams welded into a rectangular form and hinged to consecutive beds. The gardens are divided randomly amongst the museum tenants and the local inhabitants to encourage a diverse plant environment. After being set to a flush terrain, the visitors will witness over decades the change in terrain as the beds sectional break the ground to contrast the permanence of the exhibit pavilions. Footpaths that are screened on the top and south side by a rock gabion wall are meant to provide shading, partial views and ventilation simultaneously. As the pedestrian network instantiates across the island it eventually takes over existing buildings. The existing buildings are reinforced to leave a footprint for the next one thousand years. The contrast of the smooth concrete base against the piercing gabion wall is meant to reinforce the existing vs. new experience within the buildings. After all it is within these select existing buildings that the new pavilions will display the archeological artifacts. When placed against the waters edge they will also showcase the exhibits to the local tour boats. The final product is a new community of converted existing buildings tied through pedestrian foot bridges to the rest of the neighborhood.

ublic Way

Each node is marked with a tall glass elevator, which act as - Embarcadero beacons demarcating the location of the nodes and the museum objects associated with them. The aerial network and the botanical gardens are open to the public, while the museum rooms are accessed with a pass purchased at the central hub. Flanking the entrance to the central hub, are the two most public pieces of the program: an auditorium and a bookstore and cafe. These also use the language of the tilted planes with the program situated below grass roofs ideal for people watching in the main square.

ehicles at a Moment in Time

ervious Surfaces

Exploded

It is the hope that this new museum will create a more spiritual, Axonometric less linear discovery of these incomparably powerful pieces of Mexican history; having all the presence of a large foot-print The new Museo Xochimilco will be a new kind of archeological museum. A distributed network of museum museum while improving the neighborhood it thesits in,andrather than nodes are connected by aerial bridges linking objets the city fabric. The nodes are designed to respond knocking it down. to the various site types they are situated in: agricultural land preserved to be cultivated as it has been through-

Uni v ersi ty o f C a lifo rnia , B e

The new Museo Xochimilco will be a new kind of archeological erial With Site Boundary museum. A distributed network of museum nodes is connected by aerial bridges linking the objects and the city fabric. The nodes are designed to respond to the various site types they are situated - Surfaces in: agricultural land preserved to be cultivated as it has been throughout the ages, botanical gardens which mimic the agricultural form while tilting up out of the earth suggesting the uplift of the Aztec pyramids and the subsidence of the City of Mexico, and anal mixed use urban nodes with retail space on the ground floor, a museum room above and a hub for the network on the roof.

X O C

- Nodes

Public Way

Aerial With Site Boundary

- Surfaces

Vehicles at a Moment in Time

M U S E O

Asa Prentice M.Arch

Asa Prent i ce - M University of Californi a, Berk el ey - I nst ruct i or R

UCB

M U S E MO U XS OE CO H XI OM CI PrentIi ce M U S University E O of XCaliforni O aC, Berkeley H IAsa- IMnst io Uni versi t y of Cal i f orniruct a, Ber

erarchy of Access

- Nodes

Canal

Pervious Surfaces

Public Way

Exploded Axonometric

The new Museo Xochimilco will be a new kind of archeological museum. A distributed network of museum nodes are connected by aerial bridges linking the objets and the city fabric. The nodes are designed to respond to the various site types they are situated in: agricultural land preserved to be cultivated as it has been through-

- Embarcadero

out the ages, botanical gardens which mimic the agricultural form while tilting up out of the earth suggesting

the uplift of the Aztec pyramids and the subsidence of the City of Mexico, and mixed use urban nodes with retail space on the ground floor, a museum room above and a hub for the network on the roof. Each node is marked with a tall glass elevator, which act as beacons demarcating the location of the nodes and the mueseum objects associated with them. The aerial network and the botanical gardens are open to the public, while the museum rooms are accessed with a pass purchased at the central hub. Flanking the entrance to the central hub, are the two most public pieces of the program: an auditorium and a bookstore and cafe. These also use the language of the tilted planes with the program situated below grass roofs ideal for people watching in the main square. It is the hope that this new museum will create a more spiritual, less linear discovery of these incomprably powerful pieces of Mexican history; having all the presence of a large foot-print museum while improving the neighborhood

Tree Lines and Traces

it sits in, rather than knocking it down.

Vehicles at a Moment in Time Exploded Axonometric

out the ages, botanical gardens which mimic the agricultural form while tilting up out of the earth suggesting

Pervious Surfaces

Tree Lines and Traces

it sits in, rather than knocking it down.

Botanical Garden and Museum Room Section Scale: 1” = 8’

out the ages, botanical gardens which mimic the agricultural form while tilting up out of the earth suggesting the uplift of the Aztec pyramids and the subsidence of the City of Mexico, and mixed use urban nodes with retail space on the ground floor, a museum room above and a hub for the network on the roof. Each node is marked with a tall glass elevator, which act as beacons demarcating the location of the nodes and the mueseum objects associated with them. The aerial network and the botanical gardens are open to the public, while the museum rooms are accessed with a pass purchased at the central hub. Flanking the entrance to the central hub, are the two most public pieces of the program: an auditorium and a bookstore and cafe. These also use the language of the tilted planes with the program situated below grass roofs ideal for people watching in the main square. It

Botanical Garden and Museum Room Section Scale: 1” = 8’

UCB

Anders Rotstein M.Arch permanent exhibition permanent exhibition

administration

The rural organization of the Chinampas used in Xochimilco creates a very rigid and strict fabric. The museum and its botanical garden use this historical pattern as an organisational strategy. The volume of the museum rises up from the botanical garden, as the roofscape becomes a part of the garden. From the roof of the museum the visitor can overlook and experience the parks strictness with its canals in an even more evident way. These channels that run through the park are a way to experience the museum and the park. As another layer of the project the walkways divides the park into display zones for different types of plants and historical themes.

The museum is turned towards the southeast corner of the site where a new plaza is created, the embarcadero meets the central bus stops and the main artery of Xochimilco. New pathways for the neighbourhood are created through the site via the new museum and its botanical garden. Programmatically the museum is organized into three areas; temporary exhibition, permanent exhibition and the service section which holds a café, restaurant, gift shop and library. All of these spaces can be used independently, with different opening hours. Inside the museum the displayscape is an interpretation of the root system of the chinampas. All exhibits are hanged from the inner ceiling of the museum and the artifacts are placed within this “root system”. The lighting is placed so it enhances the ceiling as an independent design element. The visitor moves through the exhibitions in a non-linear pattern, moving around the “roots”. The exhibition is directed along the length of the museum to strengthen the strict organisation of the Chinampas and to lead the visitors towards the viewpoints where the façade opens up towards the surroundings.

permanent exhibition

museo arqueologico Xochimilco, Mexico City temporary exhibition

link to permanent exhibition

temporary exhibition

MXDF architecture studio UC Berkeley 55

main entrance resturant / cafe

cafe / resturant

sections 1:200

auditorium

library

UCB

Gisela Schmoll M.Arch Often museums tend to be large places that house objects in warehouse style. The visitor to the museum is quickly exhausted, both from visual over-load and from standing on their feet for long periods without break. In response to this, the museum is designed as a series of small, intimate galleries; one that privileges the garden and canals.

The formal language of the museum and garden took its cues from the regional character. The gardens and buildings have been organized by a series of bands that mimics the local agricultural plots and highlights the constructed nature of the landscape. The bands widths are based on the width of the local green houses. The local architecture consists of simple low-rise buildings punctured by courtyards that act as outdoor living spaces. Courtyards have been employed throughout the galleries and act on several levels. First, they modulate the light entering the galleries preventing most direct sun from entering spaces. Second, they allow water to move into the galleries, merging the buildings with the landscape. Experientially, visitors are constantly moving between indoor and outdoor rooms, from light to dark. The courtyards also serve as intimate resting spots where visitors can linger and as voids that signal an entryway. The canal system in Xochimilco acts as markers, access and dividers. The site design employs them in the site in a similar way. The larger shallow canals serve as axes that help visitors to navigate through the gardens. The galleries have been anchored and organized on the main canals with smaller canals acting as connectors moving perpendicular to the main bands. The canals have also been used as dividers, in particular to separate the administration building from the remainder of the site.

UCB

Christian Tipping M.Arch XOCHIMILCO [48.3 MI2] POPULATION GROWTH

SITE PLAN DEVELOPMENT

TOTAL PER AREA INCREASE SINCE 1960: +424%

CRYSTALLIZATION-BASED FRAMENTATION AND BLDG. SITING

DESIGN METAPHORS 1960

This project maintains the position that the remaining chinampas in Xochimilco are essential to its social and cultural vitality and represent one of the most significant aspects of the district’s history. The site of this studio project is therefore crucial in that it is one of the last remaining chinampa islands that border any major public space or thorough fare. By reestablishing the site as a public realm that provides facilities for the local and visiting communities, a revived respect for the historic culture of the chinampas can be maintained.

MUSEO ARQUEOLOGICO SAN JUAN de XOCHIMILCO Ciudad de México

population 2 pop./mile

70,381 1,457

1970

population 2 pop./mile

1980

population 2 pop./mile

116,493 2,412

1990

population 2 pop./mile

197,819 4,096

2000

population 2 pop./mile

271,151 5,615

368,798 7,637

PROJECT BACKGROUND + ANALYSIS

DRAWING KEY: 01 MAIN LOBBY 02 RECEPTION / INFORMATION 03 MUSEUM STORE 04 RESTROOMS 05 MUSEUM CAFE 06 KITCHEN 07 PERMANENT EXHIBITION 08 SUNKEN COURTYARD

Turquoise was chosen as a vehicle for mediating the design process As it is an abundantly used cryptocrystalline (typical crystalline formations are very rare) gemstone native to the areas surrounding Mexico City and is created by the combination of various elements such as water, copper, and aluminum within other primary substrates. It inherently displays natural conditions of various boundaries, thresholds, and aggregation at a range of scales from which parallels with the process of designing a program consisting of many different components can be drawn. For example, the process of hydrated crystallization combined with site- specific considerations like view and access serves as a guide for establishing building site and landscape organization. Additionally the crystalline cell structure is used as a means for arranging and aggregating programmatic elements into the building, as well as influencing its overall form. The result is a series of buildings that attempt to mediate the boundary between the existing urban fabric and the new museum site. Conceived as an aggregation of various programmatic elements solidified into a single structure, each building consists of various spaces accommodating service, private, public, and pay-public uses.

09 BOTANICAL EXHIBITION 10 GREENHOUSE 11 SPECIAL EXHIBITION

12 DELIVERY / LOADING 13 FOYER 14 WORKSHOP 15 EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES 16 AUDITORIUM 17 LOCAL ARTIST EXHIBITS XOCHIMILCO [48.3 MI2] POPULATION GROWTH

18 COAT CHECK / SECURITY

SITE PLAN DEVELOPMENT

TOTAL PER AREA INCREASE SINCE 1960: +424%

CRYSTALLIZATION-BASED FRAMENTATION AND BLDG. SITING

19 WINE CELLAR / BAR 20 STORAGE 1960

1970

1980

1990

21 MAIN STORAGE

2000

22 MEDIA RESOURCES / LIBRARY 23 ADMINISTRATION population 2 pop./mile

70,381 1,457

population 2 pop./mile

116,493 2,412

197,819 4,096

population 2 pop./mile

271,151 5,615

24 BOTANICAL GARDENS

368,798 7,637

25 NEW WATERFRONT

DRAWING KEY: 01 MAIN LOBBY 02 RECEPTION / INFORMATION 03 MUSEUM STORE 04 RESTROOMS 05 MUSEUM CAFE 06 KITCHEN 07 PERMANENT EXHIBITION 08 SUNKEN COURTYARD 09 BOTANICAL EXHIBITION 10 GREENHOUSE

XOCHIMILCO [48.3 MI2] POPULATION GROWTH TOTAL PER AREA INCREASE SINCE 1960: +424%

11 SPECIAL EXHIBITION

SITE PLAN DEVELOPMENT

12 DELIVERY / LOADING 13 FOYER 14 WORKSHOP

CRYSTALLIZATION-BASED FRAMENTATION AND BLDG. SITING

15 EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES 16 AUDITORIUM 17 LOCAL ARTIST EXHIBITS 18 COAT CHECK / SECURITY 19 WINE CELLAR / BAR 20 STORAGE 21 MAIN STORAGE 22 MEDIA RESOURCES / LIBRARY 23 ADMINISTRATION 24 BOTANICAL GARDENS 25 NEW WATERFRONT

1960

population 2 pop./mile

70,381 1,457

1970

population 2 pop./mile

116,493 2,412

1980

population 2 pop./mile

197,819 4,096

1990

population 2 pop./mile

271,151 5,615

2000

population 2 pop./mile

368,798 7,637

UCB

Bin Wang M.Arch Instead of being just a single building, the museum is a new layer added to the existing system of islands and neighborhoods. It operates differently on each side of the water channel; extending over the island on one side and filling the urban fabric on the other. In this way, the proposal becomes an instrument to explore and show the place and the historical and cultural context of the archeological pieces, the urban fabric, and the agricultural chinampa system and its crops.

The project proposes to keep the island alive as a production device, taking the islandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s artificial landscape and layout, its seasonal cycles, changes and variations as a part of the museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collection.

In order to do this, the museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main building extends its mass and program over the island in the form of a network of boardwalks and pavilions intended to exhibit archeological pieces related to the plantations and crops. Thus the design creates a framework to exhibit the chinampa agricultural system the same way the existing walls of the houses do for the courtyards.

Object Display Concept

thicken surface to accommodate the depth through continuity, rather depth must be found through surface assembly. Brian Washburn Prof. Rene Davids Arch 201 UCB 5.17.07

Constructed Landscape: Dead or Alive

UCB

Statue: Jaguar: stone, sculptural, minimal detail, grey, vessel, heavy, large

Brian Washburn M.Arch

Statue: Crossed Legs: symmetrical, stone, grey, lots of detail, medium sized, looking up (lit from above)

Urban Re-connections

Felix Candela

Los Manantiales, Xochimilco, MXDF 1957-1958 Exterior, shell extending over dining terrace

Felix Candela

San Vicente de Paul, Coyoacan, MXDF 1959 Local Precedence

62 P.L. Nervi

St. Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cathedral, San Francisco Structural shell surface

This project consists of an archeological museum and a botanical garden, two identities that struggle against each other within a larger body of canals and informal urbanization, already in conflict, each desiring what the other despises. One needs sunlight to survive, the other darkness for the survival of its inhabitants. One needs water to grow the other shelters itself from it. One needs soil for its nutrients, the other attempts to dance around its subsidence. The proposal finds its identity in these internal conflicts. It places the experience of the visitor in between, exposing two identities to be experienced simultaneously. The agricultural landscape and built-form are juxtaposed, exaggerating the qualities of light and dark, active and static, natural and built, life and death, and to expose the ambiguities in these dichotomies.

Statue: Rooster Head: medium level of detail, large, grey, bulbous, heavy, symmetrical in one direction

Statue: Feathered Snake Wrapping Body: spiraling, stone, grey, lots of detail, medium sized

Statue: Feathered Dragon Head: squat, stone, grey, medium detail, smaller

Statue: Stone Head with Crown: nearly white with some lichen, high level of detail, medium size, tubular form

Wall

Site

Shade

Roof

Pavillion

Shell Assemblies

Inscribed Ceremonial Bone: human bone, delicate, linear, small, many of them, small inscriptions

Obsidian Monkey Jar: obsidian, black, volcano, stone, small, vessel, compact

Through the preservation of ancient farming techniques the continuous lines of infrastructural canals establish an emergent framework for the new museum; the permanent objects are placed within this framework and deform it to claim their own space. Across the deformed grid existing paths are linked through the site, making connections within the larger context as well as within the museum itself.

Flutes: wood, tubular, pink and beige, musical

Book of Crops and Stars: delicate, colorful, medium size, pictorial or flat, grided layout, white pages

Le Corbusier

Philips Pavilion, Brussels World Fair 1958 Ruled surfaces

Erwin Hauer

Modular Study for Screen Potential for parametric light screens

Antoni Gaudi

Study for Segrada Familia Boolean subtraction of designed hyperbolic forms from a notional solid

The building strategy depends on the display of the permanentSite Connections objects for its organization. Permanent objects are placed at the center of concentric rings of landscape and covered with thin shells of concrete in order to construct panoramic views that start the dialogue between old and new, built and natural, dead and living. The support and temporary exhibition spaces for the museum are located within the middle ground of this construction while directing the paths that link between nodes of display. Predicated on the fact that materials are more expensive than labor, the proposal attempts to use minimal amounts of materials to accomplish maximum depth, enabled through shell and folding techniques of the surface assembly. Chinampas Agriculture

Feathered Ceremonial Shield and Arrowheads: yellow, red, and black on shield, white arrowheads, circular, abstract design, light weight, delicate, sharp arrowheads

Headdress: opalescent, feathers, spread, light weight, delicate, blue

Wood Boat: 25'+ long, deteriorating toward one end, carved from one tree, rectangular section, grain expressed, brown

Supply Air Ventilation Window Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Paimio -Alvar Aalto [In air ďŹ&#x201A;ow windows, the effective R-value is approximately doubled]

Infrastructural Deformations

Circulations Diagram

Mural: painted on the inside of a freestanding room built of stone, highly colorful [reds, oranges, and blues], imagery-based story, soft blends of color, wispy

UIA

Just like Mexico City, the lake region of

The Professors at

Universidad Iberoamericana

Isaac Broid

Xochimilco es una región lacustre dentro de la Ciudad de México. Es la zona productora de hortalizas y flores más importante de la ciudad. Todavía a principios del siglo XX existían aquí los manantiales más ricos de todo el valle que abastecieron de agua a la ciudad mediante un acueducto aun en funciones. El día de hoy, más de un centenar de pozos profundos extraen el 23% del total consumo de agua de la ciudad – 14m3 por segundo. Xochimilco es un Patrimonio Histórico de la Humanidad debido a sus canales y sus chinampas, superficies rectangulares de tierra creadas artificialmente sobre el agua y formadas por capas de tierra compactada en sus lagos por sauces conocidos como ahuejotes.

Mauricio Rocha

Luis de Villafranca

Xochimilco, en Náhuatl, significa “El lugar de la flores”. Tiene 84 kms cuadrados de canales que penetran en el corazón de los 18 barrios que la conforman, algunos construídos desde el siglo XVI. Algunos son aún más antiguos, como el barrio de Tláhuac, el reino del penúltimo Tlatoani o emperador México Cuitláhuac. Hace siglos fue una pequeña isla situada entre el Lago de Chalco y el de Xochimilco y ahora sus chinampas se ven amenazadas por la urbanización que día a día se les avecina. Las chinampas y sus canales fueron los primeros paisajes lacustres que asombraron a los hombres de ultramar atraídos por la esperanza del oro. Al bajar los elevados y fríos volcanes del Popocatépetl y el Iztaccihuatl, los conquistadores españoles pasaron la primera noche en una pequeña isleta rodeada de agua llamada Mixquic. La sorpresa y el asombro de ver tanta agua fue tal, que algunos bautizaron la región como Venezuela, comparándola probablemente con el inmenso lago de Maracaibo descubierto por los navegantes europeos 30 años antes. Bernal Díaz del Castillo relata en su libro Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva España lo siguiente:“E fuimos a dormir a otro poblado en las lagunas, que me parece se dice MEZQUIQUE, que después se puso en nombre de Venezuela y que tenia tantas torres y grandes CUES que blanqueaban; y el cacique de él y los principales nos hicieron mucha

honra y dieron a Cortés un presente en oro y mantas ricas”. El agua aparece, así, como algo insólito ante los ojos de los extranjeros: una inmensa laguna entre montañas asentada en una cuenca a mas de dos mil metros de altura sobre el nivel del mar. Hernán Cortés, el conquistador al mando de la expedición, escribía en 1520, en la segunda Carta Relación enviada al emperador Carlos V, su asombro por la gran dimensión del agua. “bien sé que serán de tanta admiración que no se podrán creer (...) dicha provincia es redonda y esta toda cercada de muy altas y ásperas sierras, y lo llano de ella tendrá hasta setenta leguas y en el dicho llano hay dos lagunas (Xochimilco y Texcoco) ocupando todo (...) tiene canoas en torno mas de cincuenta leguas. Una de estas dos lagunas es de agua dulce, y la otra, que es mayor, es de agua salada”. Para algunos investigadores, las chinampas existieron a orillas de los lagos desde el siglo IX en los poblados como Xaltocán, Texcoco, Mexicaltzingo, Zumpango y Azcapotzalco (García, 78:36/37); para otros, su apogeo se dió entre el siglo XIV al XVI, principalmente en la región de Chalco y Xochimilco (Rojas, 95:54); y efectivamente, fue en esta región de Xochimilco, Tláhuac y Mixquic donde se extendieron y consolidaron hasta los tiempos de la conquista española. La poca profundidad de los lagos fue un factor primordial en su edificación, por demás, artificial. De ahí que el origen de la palabra chinampa se derive del náhuatl chinamitl, “seto o cerco de cañas”, y pan que significa “sobre o encima”. Al igual que la Ciudad de México, Xochimilco y su región lacustre han sufrido uno de los procesos de transformación más radicales en la historia de la urbanización mundial. Hasta hace menos de 500 años, había allí 2 enormes lagos de 350 kilómetros cuadrados y a sus orillas 180 kilómetros cuadrados de chinampas y 750 kilómetros de canales y apantles; hoy solo quedan 25 kilómetros cuadrados de chinampas y 140 kilómetros de canales, un patrimonio lacustre único en el mundo.

Xochimilco has suffered one of the most radical transformation processes in the history of worldwide urbanization. Today there are only 25 km2 of chinampas and 140 km of canals left of a unique lacustrine patrimony in the world.

UIA

Enrique Acosta B.Arch Santiago Solana M.Arch Se propone un esquema que exprese tension, conlleve a la atraccion y propicie el movimiento. La intencion principal es generar tension entre la arquitectura dispuesta frente a frente. De un lado del lago cuatro edificaciones se mimetizan con el terreno y otorgan un respiro dentro de un polo completamente urbanizado. En contraposicion, del otro lado donde el verde prevalece, se asienta una edificacion masiva que se hace notar dentro de un contexto virgen y que se ve afectada u oradada por las proyecciones intagibles de los edificios confrontados. 66

UIA

Ana Sofía Bracamontes B.Arch Mariana Gil M.Arch El museo nace de la creación de 5 bandas longitudinales con unas divisiones de elementos verticales que al irse repitiendo van confinando los espacios de la exposición. Es un museo con un recorrido en circuito en donde la exposición temporal y la permanente están expuestas revueltas, y así en esta secuencia van apareciendo espacios abiertos que son el jardín botánico. El espacio interior es un espacio dinámico y cambiante que por medio de mamparas movibles se pueden hacer “n “cantidad de combinaciones de salas de exposición.

Por otra parte el museo otorga al ciudadano 2 grandes espacios abiertos que sirven como plazas en Xochimilco, uno siendo la plaza de acceso, y el otro el gran parque en rampa que se convierte en el techo de uno de los volúmen es. Los volúmenes responden de manera sutil hacia el contexto siendo 5 volúmenes que van jugando con las alturas y escalonándose entre si.

UIA

Ania Calderon B.Arch JerĂłnimo JimĂŠnez M.Arch Recovery of landscape is such a promising cultural enterprise for it evokes less the recuperation and restoration of a passive artifact and more the extension and realization of landscapesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; hidden potential. -James Corner

Landscape is neither made nor given. Keeping this is mind, this project acknowledges three identities that surge in a creative dialogue; the natural, the artificial and the artificially natural. The latter possesses a unique quality in the sense of potentially being able to materialize an apparent oxymoron. This condition has been reproduced since historic times and in this specific site: Xochimilco, it exists as the chinampa system. The main premise is to confront the user with these fore mentioned qualities in an immediate experience. The site includes an evident transition formed by a body of water that becomes identified as and interrupted dialogue. In order to begin any conversation the transition required a flow such that implicated the use of the naturally artificial as the principal tool throughout the project. The second premise was to highlight the natural by elevating the museum and creating a system of vertical links between the natural elements and artificial constructions. The application of these actions creates different ambients that the user experiences throughout the museum.

UIA

Alma Cecilia Ceballos B.Arch Patricia Gutierrez M.Arch

Adriana Chávez B.Arch Gabriela Etchegaray M.Arch

Xochimilco is a city connected by water in which the canals are public space and the land is private. This project mimics the behavior of the city and translates it into space.

el MUSEO nace tras analizar el contexto, donde comenzamos por tomar referencias de las CONSTRUCCIONES EXISTENTES en los predios que rodean el terreno a intervenir.

The project consists of two solid bodies that hold the temporary and private exhibitions, as well as the library and the auditorium. These two bodies are connected trough a continuous circulation that holds the cafeteria, shops and plazas. The main part of this circulation is a bridge that connects the two islands in which the project is located.

se crean diferentes DIAGRAMAS en relación al contexto, de los cuales nacen los VOLUMENES y TOPOGRAFIA que conforman al museo, tomando en cuenta los diferentes elementos que intervienen como el agua, las chinampas y parcelas de Xochimilco.

The principal idea of this main circulation is to create a changing public space that intersects at different moments with private areas. Throughout the solid bodies of the museum archeological pieces are exhibited. Each of these pieces has an historical as well esthetic importance. The way of displaying each piece changes according to the pieces, size form and importance. These conditions were the ones that determine the interior of the museum.

los diagramas expresan a su vez estas parcelas, de manera que se crea un TEJIDO entre los edificios y jardines: dando como resultado una representación de volúmenes aislados, en los cuales se albergan las EXPOSICIONES PERMANETES, por otro lado, existen los espacios conectores, que albergan las EXPOSICIONES TEMPORALES en una circulación continua imperceptible desde el exterior. De esta manera, se repiten los tejidos en forma horizontal al interior del edificio. el museo cuenta con diferentes accesos, contemplando elementos urbanos, que se integran en los accesos-plaza, permitiendo la INTERACCION de Xochimilco y su gente, en un ESPACIO PUBLICO. la topografía toma un papel importante con las salas permanentes, jugando con los asolamientos, a su vez, las fachadas que se abren completamente, se relacionan con los árboles de la zona, tejiendo los espacios exteriores con los interiores.

UIA

Alejandra de la Cerda B.Arch Beatriz de Regil M.Arch El proyecto del museo y jardín botánico en Xochimilco, se basa en hacer algo para la gente de la zona, igual que ofrezca algo mas para el turismo. Lo que se trato de hacer fue crear circulaciones por donde la gente pudiera hacer diferentes actividades al mismo tiempo y durante todo el día. El museo se encuentra en la planta baja. La fachada juega con diferentes transparencias que son concreto, vegetación, y cristal dependiendo de dónde están situadas la piezas del museo. 76

El espacio publico que es el jardín botánico se encuentra alrededor del museo y en las azoteas que son de techos vivos donde la gente puede caminar, descansar, asolearse, jugar, entretenerse, y cruzar de un lado al otro del proyecto, sin visitar el museo, si no para ir en el tiempo libre. Lo que hicimoss fue que el museo fuera algo más para la gente de la zona, que no tienen ningún lugar público donde puedan hacer diferentes actividades y así esta zona siempre tenga vida y nunca se encuentre vacía. Creamos estacionamientos para las trajineras y el agua se integraran al proyecto, ya que son elementos fundamentales en esta zona.

UIA

Domingo Delaroiere B.Arch Juan Carlos de la Riva M.Arch Museo trajinera de Xochimilco. Este museo tiene la intención de ser un edificio inspirado en el espacio que provocan las trajineras sobre el agua. Los tres dedos se abren respondiendo al canal; forman un recorrido lineal que se va fragmentando en espacios totalmente separados, creando la sensación de estar al nivel del agua, en una isla plana, protegida por un techo; es decir, la misma sensación de estar sobre una trajinera a punto de salir del embarcadero.

El movimiento característico de Xochimilco, tanto en la calle como en el canal, le permite a esta nueva trajinera fija, por relación con el exterior, tener más del movimiento que se requiere para completar la sensación deseada. Al igual que toda buena trajinera que usa cortinas para protegerse del sol, la fachada del edificio cuenta con paneles angostos, movibles según la intensidad de luz que requiera su interior.

UIA

Mariano Maldonado B.Arch Georgina Ramirez M.Arch

Alejandra de la Mora B.Arch Geovanna Preciado M.Arch

Este proyecto ubicado en Xochimilco, está diseñado en base a formas que se adaptan a 2 condiciones distintas. Por una parte la creciente zona poblada de la ciudad y por otra a la vegetación que existe en Xochimilco.

La concepción del edificio se consiguió a través de la sobreposición de volúmenes rectangulares. Mediante la intersección de estos elementos ortogonales se generaron diferentes alturas, logrando así, heterogeneidad en el sitio, pues el usuario vive el espacio interno a diferentes escalas; mientras que la distribución de áreas de exposiciones se rigen por la fractura de los ejes compositivos.

El museo se encuentra ubicado en una zona despoblada y llena de vegetación. El juego de volúmenes, conforman espacios de triple altura o salas menor escala, de acuerdo a la exposición. El jardín botánico une las salas de exposición, por medio de un recorrido en el que se combina el espacio construido y la vegetación.

El auditorio, la biblioteca y la administración se encuentran de un lado del canal, el que la urbanización se desarrolla con rapidez, por lo que el proyecto se alinea con la zona poblada, y las formas en los volúmenes, adoptan un carácter regular. La vegetación en el jardín botánico y el agua del canal, son importantes en la relación y unión de los volúmenes del proyecto de modo que se integran a la estructura, modos y tradiciones de la zona. Mariano Maldonado Maza + Georgina Ramírez Millán

El diseño de fachada se generó a partir del difuminado de colores, siguiendo con la idea de heterogeneidad tanto en su adentro como en su afuera, por otro lado el diseño de paisaje secaracteriza por seguir con la idea del diseño urbano de Xochimilco, pues simula parcelas.

UIA

Daniel Mastretta B.Arch Guillermo Gonzáles M.Arch

The Museum consists in the walk-through between structured boxes, gardens and water. We propose thin concrete slabs for the floor and top of the boxes, and a strong column structure to separate them from one another. This column patterns allow transparency in the human scale experience, letting some of the elements ahead to be evident but never complete until you are close to them, and also letting the boat transit of the canal become an external factor of planes and transparency.

The user then experiences the feeling of not knowing what lies ahead, never quite on the inside or the outside of the building. Each and every one of the volumes is designed to contain one or more of the selected archaeological pieces and the structure’s size and transparency responds to the scale and lighting needs of each one of them. The gardens and water planes intertwine and intervene the boxes, breaking and entering with more hierarchy than stone. We have also designed this project, taking on the consideration that the site plan is split by the canal, and the trajinera transit is not to be interrupted. We take advantage of this particular situation to generate two different route intentions, the walk-through by foot, and the boat ride. This project intention actually clarifies the way we want the museum to be experienced, because people who come to Xochimilco to take the boat ride, will perform the visit moving along the river at a certain speed, enjoying the sight from an external and exterior position, and for the users who are living the inside route of the museum, the sight of boats with erratic “visitors” in the background will modify the way the place looks every time they visit the exposition.

UIA

Jorge Mustri B.Arch Arturo Urruchua M.Arch El museo nace de la creación de 5 bandas longitudinales con unas divisiones de elementos verticales que al irse repitiendo van confinando los espacios de la exposición. Es un museo con un recorrido en circuito en donde la exposición temporal y la permanente están expuestas revueltas, y así en esta secuencia van apareciendo espacios abiertos que son el jardín botánico.

El espacio interior es un espacio dinámico y cambiante que por medio de mamparas movibles se pueden hacer “n “cantidad de combinaciones de salas de exposición. Por otra parte el museo otorga al ciudadano 2 grandes espacios abiertos que sirven como plazas en Xochimilco, uno siendo la plaza de acceso, y el otro el gran parque en rampa que se convierte en el techo de uno de los volúmenes. Los volúmenes responden de manera sutil hacia el contexto siendo 5 volúmenes que van jugando con las alturas y escalonándose entre si.

UIA

Francisco Patiño B.Arch Ernesto Zelayarán M.Arch Es un solido cortado a la mitad por el area de exposiciones, esto genera una apertura hacia el canal de xocimilco, el adentro y el afuera se pierden, se vuelven uno mismo, hacia la ciudad se puede apreciar la masividad del proyecto, teniendo que acceder a el para tener vistas hacia el canal. La parte de arriba es un jardin botanico/parque, la envolvente se convierte en macetas, arbustos, cambios de pavimento, bancas, generando asi landscape en la azotea.

Las exposiciones exhiben piecas del museo de antropologìa y pueden ser observadas desde dentro y fuera del museo y el acceso al parque esta separado del museo dandole asi una vida publica las 24 horas del dìa.

MAY 21, 2007

Consulate of Mexico, San Francisco, California

CONSULATE EXHIBIT 90

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[ This book is a joint publication by CCA, UCB & UIA. ]