REINTERPRETING THE TRADITIONAL VECIDADE MODEL FOR MEXICO CITY’S STUDENT POPULATION “we must recognise colour as having absolutely the same rights as form. Don’t despise this wonderful gift of God – pure, unbroken color.” -Taut
GREY GRIERSON – UNIT 2
1960 – MEXICO CITY’S TLATELOLCO HOUSING COMPLEX BUILT
2 OCTOBER 1968 - TLATELOLCO HOUSING COMPLEX PROTESTS
9 SEPTEMBER 1985 - 8.1 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE
26 SEPTEMBER 2014 - 43 MEXICAN STUDENTS WERE KILLED
Mexico City had grown significantly since the Spanish conquest and was continuing to boom. After infrastructure projects drained Lake Texcoco, the city grew steadily out from the centre of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlán, which today is Mexico City’s central plaza. After the country gained independence in 1810, gradual industrialisation during the 19th century and the creation of a railway network laid the foundations for a steady population shift from rural to urban. By the 1950s, Mexico City was facing a serious housing shortage.
Mexico City was preparing to host the Olympics to raise Mexico’s stature in the eyes of the world. A coalition of left-leaning activists instead wanted to turn attention to social ills and the frequently violent overreach of military forces in Mexico. In response, the government created the Olympia battalion, a paramilitary squad intended to ensure the games wouldn’t be interrupted by protesters.
Though the epicentre was off the coast of the southwest state of Michoacán, it was powerful enough to cause major damage in Mexico City, demolishing buildings, damaging metro stations and killing thousands.
Tens of thousands of have marched through Mexico City in protests against the government’s response to the disappearance and probable massacre of 43 student teachers.
The Tlatelolco complex was hit particularly hard. Two of the three segments of the Nuevo León building collapsed, killing all residents inside. The collapse, exacerbated by a toxic combination of cost cutting during the original construction and improper maintenance, left between 200 and 300 dead.
The students disappeared on 26 September after they were attacked and arrested by municipal police in the southern city of Iguala and then, according to the subsequent federal investigation, handed over to a local drug trafficking gang and then probably massacred. They had gone to Iguala, from their radical teacher training college about two hours drive away, in order to commandeer buses to use in a later protest. The attacks initiated by the municipal police also left six people dead.
Seeking to address this issue, the Mexican government sought to implement the most innovative building design of the time. They contracted Mario Pani, a young architect who had become one of the biggest proponents of the modernist ideas of Le Corbusier in the country. His plan called for 102 residential towers, ranging in height from four to 22 floors, placed in large blocks with plazas and public space in between – Le Corbusier’s “towers in the park” concept.
The protests reached tipping point on 2 October, 10 days before the opening ceremony, when protesters gathered in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in the late afternoon for a rally. At the same time, snipers from the battalion took strategic posts in the new housing complexes, providing them with a clear shot on the people below. At 6:10pm, a shot was fired, though no one was sure where it came from. Security forces acted immediately, opening fire on the protesters. “At that point,” journalist Elena Poniatowska wrote in her book The Night of Tlatelolco, “the Plaza de las Tres Culturas became a living hell.”
Due to earthquake damage, eight other buildings in the complex were demolished and four more had their uppermost floors removed. It was an event charged with symbolism. Just as Pruitt-Igoe in St Louis, Missouri had demonstrated the “death of modernism” in the United States, the partial demolition of Tlatelolco showed it to be a failure south of the border as well.
The missing students immediately became a symbol of the country’s security crisis, which has already produced countless massacres and over 20,000 disappearances, and which protesters blame on a combination of warring criminal groups and widespread corruption and negligence that gives them free rein.
The protesters ran eastward, but many did not escape. The battalion and other security forces broke into residences, and the wide superblocks made fleeing protesters easy targets. After the killings ended, the government’s initial reaction was to minimise the carnage, estimating that only 24 had been killed. This figure was dramatically contradicted by other accounts. Poniatowska’s account includes an interview with a mother living in Tlatelolco who claims to have seen at least 65 dead bodies during the massacre. The tragic events that night left a lasting legacy and remain a hot topic in Mexican politics.
PROGRAM RESEARCH SOCAIL HOUSING AND STUDENT-GOWVERNMENT RELATIONSHIP IN MEXICO CITY
TRADIONAL COLLECTIVE HOUSING MEXICO CITY Vecindades were defined as a group of rooms were numerous families lived, which surrounded an open space of patio, and follow the physical layout of old mansions in the centre of Mexico City. Even though they are situated in different locations, built in different centuries and are used by different income groups, vecindades generally shared the same elements. The elements are the zuhuun (entance), the patio, the dwellings and the accesorias. These elements vary in number, area and position depending on the characteristics of each vecindad.
VECIDADES
SPANISH ARCHITECTURE Spanish architecture was influenced by several cultures due to its location. Islamic occupation of Spain from 711 until 1492 greatly influenced the architecture of the country. The domestic architecture that was introduced by the Arabs had the characteristics of the Oriental Urban house, popular in the ancient cultures of Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China. An open space or patio surrounded by rooms is the constant feature in the urban layout. NATIVE INDIGENOUS ARCHITECTURE Many plans were arranged with semi-private open spaces and patios which suggest the existence of a collective life. The patio enjoyed a lot of privacy because it was placed far from the noise and never had direct access with the street. It was the most important place for daily activities: this is clear from the fact that Aztec families did not have windows to the exterior. MIXTURE OF TWO CULTURES Mexico was conquered in 1521 by the Spanish. The quick adaption of houses in Mexico was possible because the idea of a ‘house’ in both cultures had many similarities. For both cultures the patio was the most important space for daily activities. Covered spaces in both cultures were used for sleeping and storage and had little used throughout the day.
Ground floor plan of the house of Gamal-alDin-al-Zahabi in Cairo, Egypt.
Ground floor of house in Mohenjo-Daro. India: Third Street Area.
Plan of a two-courtyard house in Peking, China.
Indigenous aztec architecture
Ground floor plan of El Corral del Conde in Seville
Leandro Valle- example of vencidad built in eighteenth centaury
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF VECIDADES
Above is a study of twelve different vencidades in Mexico city showing the relationship between the built area and open space. It is clear that the open space and patios can vary in dimension and quantity depending on the site of the building.
The 1748 Nolli Map of Rome by Giambattista Nolli maps the all the public space of Rome including taking sections through churches to enable the reader to clearly see what is private even when that publc space in covered.
OPEN SPACES OF VECIDADES
KEY FACTS Category of the vecindad: humble Historic background: built in the 19th century. Original use: habitation Actual use: habitation and commerce Number of stories: 2 Number of commercial spaces: 2 Type of commercial activity: books, tools and plumbing Number of patios: 1 Built area: 76% Open space: 24% Dimension and total area of the plot= 14m x 37m, 475 m2 Amount of common area: 28 % Amount of private area: 57 % Amount of commercial area: 15 % This building is located Republica de Peru within the historical district.
Model of building: the view highlights how the courtyard is discrete from the street
CASE STUDY REPUBLICA DE PERU 112
The patio gives articulation to the dwellings and allows for circulation and movement of its inhabitants. It is the most important feature of a vencidade. It allows a common meeting place for the inhabitants, it also offer a substitute for the lack of space inside the dwellings. The Patio also allows the building breath ad be lit. The hanging of clothes is a constant feature in every vencidad patio. It adds vitality, colour and movement.
THE PATIO
The Zahuan is the entrance to the vencidad. It is the space of transition between the public and the semi-public, the exterior and interior, the street and the patio. The character of the Zahuan means that a visitor would feel like they are entering a very private space or even a sacred one. Usually a Zahuan is long and narrow allowing light from only two minor sides, a feature that makes it quite dark and mysterious.
THE ZAHUAN
MEZZANINE
DINING AND LIVING ROOM
KITCHEN
BATHROOM TYPICAL VECINDAD ROOM A typical layout of rooms inside a Vendidad consist of two main sections. The first room is connected to the azotehuela where both cooking and sanitary facilities are located. The second room is located on the second floor, its primary use is sleeping. These dwellings represent a minimum of comfort within the vencidades and are occupied by middle-income working classes, artisans and small businessmen. The area is approximately 35m2.
Photographs of example vecindad apartments connected to one another through walkways and the patio.
TYPICAL DWELLING OF A VECIDAD
MONUMENTAL MOTORWAY A site sketch to highlight the strong shadow cast across the site by the towering two-storey motorway. The Mexican winter sun even with the air pollution creates strong contrasting shadows where forms are more prominent.
COMMUNITY DIVISION Where I propose to site my project spans itself from one site of a ten lane motorway to the other side. A pre-existing ramp currently connects the two neighbourhoods though when I visited the site a sense of disconnection was felt. The formidable road divides the two communities.
Typological example of surrounding building
Large shadow cast by bridge
View from west side of pedestrian ramp
View from pedestrian crossing
A SITE AMONGST ROADS
1: 250
Cars can look down from the motorway onto the site. The congested road weaves people through the city on their daily commute capitalising tension between the communities on either side of the road.
CONGESTION AND NOISE LOOM ABOVE THE SITE
A ramp rises across the motorway by the site enabling the nine lane of traffic to be crossed on foot and the two communities either side of the road to be connected. It is distinctive in the landscape by rising up at a five degree incline it consumes space. Walking across this bridge you feel the vibrations of the motorway and feel the colossal flow of traffic coming in to the city.
COMMUNITY CONNECTOR
THE MUSEUM OF UNLIMITED GROWTH Le Corbusier designed a model of Unlimited Growth Museum for the Mundaneum in Geneva. It was a square spiral that would eventually develop and grow according to the needs of the project.
GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM NEW YORK Wright's driving idea was to generate a continuous spiral that would allow uninterrupted contemplation of works of art. The ramp ascends at an angle of 3 degrees.
MUSEO SOUMAYA MEXICO CITY This private museum in Mexico City was designed by Fernando Romero. Outer sloping stairs draws the visitor with gentle progression through the exhibition.
SSAMZIE-GIL ROAD SEOUL A gentile inclined slope through the shops allows fluid progression though by the public through the stores.
2
3
By assuming that the ramp is rising at an slope of five degrees from one particular point and is rising to meet the pedestrian bridge eight meters above and cannot pass through existing buildings I was able to figure out the initial direction of that the ramp will take.
DIRECTIONAL RAMP FORMATION STUDIES WITHIN CONTEXT
RAMP DIRECTION PROPOSALS
1
2
3
These proposals are as a result of the ramp direction the studies into the height of nearby buildings as highlighted on the previous page.
RELATIONSHIP OF TRAFFIC AND PEDESTRIAN MOVEMENT TO MASSING RAMP TRAFFIC PEDESTRIANS
I imagine the courtyards to be lifted from the ground, cars weave underneath the structure.
RAMP FORMATION PROPOSAL
The building woud be made up of a ramp that would form two courtyards on either side of the motorway
AALU LANDSCAPE URBANISM GROUNDLAB
This design combines a public space, underground and road functions. ‘Central to the definition of the figure ground is an attempt to understand and design the space as a surface which acquires thickness and spatial complexity as the different programs and land uses start to combine. In this way, the thickened ground looks for mixture of programs rather than compartmentalization of functions, working towards and open ended spatial result which combines good quality open space with otherwise isolated infrastructural elements.’
INITIAL MASSING PROPOSAL
PUBLIC RAMP This linked the two communities on either side of the motorway and provides public space for eating and relaxing STUDENT ACCOMADATION ACCESS RAMP This ramp provides private access to the dwelling, though it is designed to appear integrated to the public ramp the access to it is hidden STUDENT ACCOMADATION Internal courtyards and relative height provide privacy to these dwellings
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE RAMP DIVISION
PLAN VIEW
ELEVATION
CAIXAFORUM ARTS CENTRE, MADRID – HERZOG & DE MEURON Its heavy mass seems detached from the ground in apparent defiance of the laws of gravity. The new development is juxtaposed against the old existing building.
SECTIONAL MODEL OF ONE COURTYARD
The walkways offer different viewing levels
Strong angular forms cut the light
VIEWS OF COURTYARDS FROM WALKWAYS
Public ramp unfolded net
Public ramp paper model
Segment of private ramp with student accommodation unfolded net
Segment of private ramp with student accommodation paper model
COURTYARD FRAGMENTS
The geometry allows the ramp to merge from the floor. Pillars come down from the ramp and mesh with the ground in such a manner that the forms act in unison. The top of the ramp still rises no steeper than the wheelchair access requirement.
PUBLIC RAMP FRAGMENT MODEL
Although the planes to walk on still remain flat, steep surfaces and overhangs are formed where the structure is drawn to the groud. This creates a contrast to the existing site. The fragmented reality that is produced would allow the intense light of Mexico to create strong shadows.
AIRIEL COURTYARD MODEL
STRANGE MASS-READINGS AND SCALE-INDETERMINACY
I changed the layout of my site to now only occupy one side of the motorway. I have also now grounded the courtyards so they are now not above the motorway and re-massed it in accordance with existing buildings.
The massing is based upon the previous concept of making a new form of vecindade for modern Mexico City
MASSING PROPOSAL OF BUILDING IN ACCORDANCE WITH VECIDADE STUDY
EXPLODED SECTIONAL MODEL OF BUILDING
The building is designed to be drawing away from the noise of the motorway and busy traffic. The angular outer geometry is a physical expression of repelling the external environment.
TECTONIC EXPRESSION IN THE FORM OF PANELS
Sectional cut highlighting Zahuan (tunnel entrance)
View of entrance closest to road
Scale of upper walkways
TRUTH AND AUTHENTICITY OF CONSTRUCTION ARE REPLACED WITH AN AMBIGUOUS MIXTURE OF PANELLED REALMS
Internal courtyard
TOM WISCOMBE ARCHITECTURE This prototype is a chunk of the Cafe of the The Main Museum. It shows how loose, and even broken relations between building mass, surface articulation, and construction joints can create mysterious, vexing architectural effects. Tattoos, metaseams, and supercomponents replace grids, meshes, and parametric ordering systems, creating strange mass-readings and scale-indeterminacy.
AL_A V&A EXHIBITION ROAD A folded plate ceiling will span 30 metres and soar over the visitor despite being underground. Its design was inspired by the neo-Gothic and neo-Classic museological tradition of ornate ceilings, continuing the didactic role in promoting the art and craft of manufacture. The structural form and geometry of the gallery ceiling seeps through to the pattern of the courtyard above, giving a perspective of the exhibition space below. The visitor will be aware of the gallery directly beneath their feet. In turn, the structural solution of the ceilings generates the paving pattern of the courtyard.
STUDY AREA
WINDOWS
ROOF WALKWAY WITH ALLOTMENTS
STUDENT ACCOMMODATION UNIT
READING/ MUSIC SPACE
RAMP TO CONNECT BUILDING WITH PRE-EXSISTING MOTORWAY CROSSING STUDENT ACCOMMODATION UNIT
RAMP LEADING TO OTHER STUDENT ACCOMMODATION UNITS
RAMP LEADING TO COURTYARD POOL
SECTIONAL MODEL CONSIDERING THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE EXTERNAL SKIN
The sectional model highlights how the faceted language is drawn down throughout the building into the concrete walkways. The doors of the student units are able to fold across allowing the students to create a highly social atmosphere.
LUIS BARRAGAN Frustrated by the cold functionalism of modernism Barragan embraced space, colour and light to create buildings that engendered warmth, meditation, and reflection.
ARTICULATION OF SPECIFIC MATERIAL QUALITIES
TOP VIEW
EXTERIOR ELEVATION
Postured upright the student housing distinctly contrasts the horizontality of the adjacent buildings. Consequently, architecture begins to produce its own context. The shape of the windows are defined by the neighbouring buildings.
PERCHING AND STRANGE CONTEXTUALISM
“we must recognise colour as having absolutely the same rights as form. Don’t despise this wonderful gift of God – pure, unbroken color.” -Taut
Bruno Taut built ‘Paint Box Estates’- vibrant settlements that saw the application of expressive colour instead of the ornate architectural designs typical of the Weimar period. Walking through into the intimate ‘Akazienhof ’ courtyard, visitors are greeted with windows, patios and balconies displayed in cheering colour contrasts. It cannot be denied that for Taut, colour was a simple and natural way to elevate the social mood.
A light well draws colour down into the courtyard of the building.
Interior view of one of the rooms showcasing colour, elevating the mood of the architecture.
CELEBRATION OF COLOUR
SECOND FLOOR PLAN 1:100
SECTION 1:100 1:50 SECTION
PLAY FILM
The model has been sectioned to allow me to make a film highlighting the internal and external activities of the building. It becomes a series of moments that occur in everyday life of the building.
SCULPTING LIGHT AND NOISE
Doors, barriers and structures are able to move throughout the day to allow the building to transform throughout the day so the building can response to different light and sound environments.
CARLO SCARPA - BRION CEMETERY Within his cemetery there is a door that is able to lower down into the ground it such a manner that it seems to disappear. Panels and windows in the meditation space are able to fold out transform the light qualities in the interior.
GEOMETRY FACILITATES DYNAMIC ELEMENTS
Panels of coloured glass feature in the walls of the building. As the sun moves in the day beams of light shine into the courtyard.
LUIS BARRAGAN He spent a long time studying how the sun moved through his sites. He was able to precisely know where to place the windows to have controlled beams move through his architecture.
LIGHT MOVEMENT
I have been using triangulated forms in the faรงade of my building. I am interest in how to start blending the faceted language from calm to extreme. I am interested in the geometric form work of traditional Mexican textiles. I like how they blend one pattern into another and blend sizes of geometry.
He abstracts an image by using computer programing and turns the image into something different. A new pattern is formed from the previous base.
TRADTIONAL MEXICAN FABRIC STUDY
ALLOTMENTS
SUN SHADES
SINGLE STOREY STUDENT ROOM
FOLDING DOOR
MAISONETTE ROOM
SECTIONAL PERSPECTIVE OF TEXTURED LIVING
ALLOTMENTS
SUN SHADES
SINGLE STOREY STUDENT ROOM
FOLDING DOOR
MAISONETTE ROOM
SECTIONAL PERSPECTIVE OF TEXTURED LIVING
People collect fruit and vegetables from the allotments on the roof of the accommodation. The food is prepared in a kitchen and served to the residents and sold to the general public.
I have started to use the same typologies as the ones learn from the traditional serape studies.
FRONT ELVATION WITH MOVING ELEMENTS
SECTIONAL DRAWING WITH RELATION TO MOTORWAY
RENDERS TO HIGHLIGHT PANEL SUPPORT 1. COLOURED GLASS WINDOW 2. COLOURED PRE-FABRICATED TILE 3. PRIMARY STEEL STRUCTURE 4. SECONDARY STEEL STRUCTURE 5. JOINTS CONNECTING PANELS TO SECONDARY STEEL FRAME
4
1
2 3
5
TECHNICAL DESIGN OF WINDOW JOIN
1. EXTERNAL TILES 2. PRECAST CERAMIC PANELS 3. INSULATION 4. WATERPROOF MEMBRANE 5. DOULE GLAZED COLOURED GLASS 6. STEEL FRAME
STRUCTURAL DESIGN OF EXTERNAL SKIN The faรงade encloses the student accommodation rooms and offers the primary barrier against weathering, noise and allows thermal comfort. The colourful precast tiled panels do not act structurally themselves. They are supported by a steel frame that is secondary to a thicker primary steel frame that acts as the main structural support for the building. The folded geometry allows a stiff structure to be formed.
EXTERNAL VIEW OF FOLDING DOOR
TECHNICAL MAKE-UP OF DOOR
1:10
1:4
1. GLAZED CERAMIC TILES 2. TREATED PLYWOOD 3. ALUMINIUM FRAME 4. COLOURED GLASS 5. METAL HINGE 6. PRIMARY STEEL FRAME
FOLDING DOOR OF TILES AND COLOURED GLASS To foster a sociable culture within the student accommodation concertina doors will allow the student to fully open up their rooms to the other students. The performance of opening this large vibrant door acts as a transition between the external and internal space.
The array of colourful tiles and stained glass enables vivid atmospheric readings.
The pattern is a 3D abstraction of the traditional Mexican fabrics
MATERIALITY OF TILED DESIGN
SECTIONAL CUT OF FABRIC WALLS
INTERNAL LIGHT BEAMS
SOFT INTERACTION
INTERNAL FABRIC WALLS Following the same logic that is used in tents I propose that the interior walls are made up of layers of fabric that are suspended in tension between the steel frames. These lightweight walls offer no load bearing properties but the tension strengthens the steel frame. The first layer is relaxed with an air gap that allows the surface to ripple when a wind blows through the room. This is to create a peaceful atmosphere through the soft noise and visual dynamic that is produced. The secondary fabric is taught and sandwiches woollen insulation. This material selection means the walls can be lent against in comfort.
An assemblage of folding elements come together to form a panelled skin to enclose students. The architecture defies pre conceived architectural notions of scale. The vibrant colours form a direct response to the grey concrete roads surrounding the building.
OVERALL PROPOSITION MODEL
Large triangulated gaps draw light down into the courtyards.
The previously ordered form of the traditional Mexican textile becomes fragmented as it grows towards the motorway.
ABSTRACTING PATTERNS
GROUND FLOOR PLAN COURTYARD 1
BIKE SHED
COURTYARD 2
KITCHEN
RECEPTION
TOILETS
STUDY AREA
SECOND FLOOR PLAN COURTYARD 1
BIKE SHED
COURTYARD 2
MOVIE ROOM
NEIGHBOURING BALCONIES
ROOF WALKWAY
ROOF PLAN COURTYARD 1
BIKE SHED
COURTYARD 2
NEIGHBOURING BALCONIES
ROOF WALKWAY