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MIT Mextrópoli installation provides a critical exploration into the use of sustainable construction materials

2022-09-28T14:50:00-04:00

A new architectural installation from MIT’s Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism (LCAU) for the Mextrópoli Architecture and City Festival in Mexico City is leveraging the school’s recent innovations in materials research to weave a narrative about the centuries-old capital through four materials: paper, wood, earth, and concrete.

With the help of collaborating artist Marisa Morán Jahn, faculty members Sarah Williams, Caitlin Mueller, and Rafi Segal worked to create two pavilions for the installation that is meant as an invitation to visitors to explore the city’s history and future potential under the title Sueños con Fiber/Timber, Earth/Concrete.

Image by Future Urban Collectives

Photo by Marisa Morán Jahn

Photo by Walter Shintani

Photo by Rafi Segal

The first pavilion, Fiber/Timber, repurposes the city’s iconic wood Montaña Rusa rollercoaster in a form inspired by the colorful Pre-Columbian art practice called papel picado, which again offers itself as a portal to the ci...

Arquine Prepares For Their 7th Annual MEXTRÓPOLI Architecture and City Festival

2020-02-20T13:13:00-05:00

This post is brought to you by Arquine

Update: The festival has been rescheduled to Sept 5th - Sept 7th 2020

The seventh edition of the MEXTRÓPOLI Festival of Architecture and City will address an unavoidable issue on the urban planning and architecture agenda: the climate crisis.

If a few years ago we asked ourselves in MEXTRÓPOLI about the possibilities of the future as a capacity of political imagination, today it seems that the question is reduced to the possibility of any future. It seems alarmist. Maybe it is. But we must not forget that behind the "I want you to panic" approach of Greta Thurnberg, there is still a call of hope: I want you to act.

Densification, water, and population are factors that are also important when thinking about the present and future of our cities, especially under the risky context in regards to the climatic conditions of the planet. For this reason, the MEXTRÓPOLI Architecture and City Festival will reflect on a fundamental theme that will allow us...

Arquine announces winners of the MEXTRÓPOLI 2020 Pavilion contest

2020-01-21T19:33:00-05:00

As preparation for the MEXTRÓPOLI 2020 Architecture and City Festival taking place in March gets underway, the festival organizers have announced the winners of a pavilion contest held in conjunction with the event. The international competition, led by Arquine, called for architects and designers to submit their best proposals for a temporary pavilion to be located within Mexico City. According to the competition brief, participants should aim to create a structure that would generate creative discourse surrounding the themes of innovation and sustainability. Proposals should also create an open public program that builds a place for the interaction between architecture and citizenship.

The contest's powerhouse jury consisted of Tatiana Bilbao, Ruth Estévez, Carlos Facio, Alberto Odériz, Saidee Springall, and Alejandro Tapia. After reviewing and evaluating 292 proposals, the group selected its winners.

The jury awarded Gastronmic Palapa by Sabrina Morreale, Lorenzo Perri (Lemonot S...