exposed brick and concrete frame social and educational infrastructure in mexico

PILARES Valentín Gómez Farías by a|911 in mexico city

PILARES Valentín Gómez Farías by architectural studio a|911 seeks to recover the discourse of quality public works through contemporary architecture. The built infrastructure is part of a larger initiative and public policy of the ‘PILARES program’ with the objective of reconstructing the neighborhood by the means of committed architecture realizing opportunities for marginalized communities in Mexico City.

The project develops a double and balanced gesture between permeability and presence shaping a two-story structure made of exposed brick and concrete. Interwoven with the adjacent parkland, the building forms a low-impact architecture, conceptualized on the footprint of the park’s gables. Due to the proportion and location of the site, the project is planned in three blocks. Two gardens at the north side and south end function as an extension of the park and accommodate various programs such as seating areas, reading, and outdoor forums, forming an educational system with study areas both inside and outside the enclosure. The third block consists of a grid that distributes a series of classrooms and educational spaces connected through an outdoor walkway that runs longitudinally along the plan. The class and lecture rooms unfold a pavilion-like formation and enjoy natural light and ventilation.

all images by Onnis Luque

a series of skylights stand on top of the brick frame

The classrooms and the interior of the building are resolved with partition walls and reinforced concrete columns that support a series of skylights oriented to the north at different heights, providing the spaces with natural light and ventilation. The openings combine steel profiles and transparent glass to form the window and door frames, as well as interior doors.

The design team at a|911 draws from the history and context of social and educational infrastructure typologies developed during the previous decades in Mexico, designing a new morphology and exposing the brick and concrete materiality of the building. The central concept holds the creation of a new landscape, a horizon with a civic dimension. The horizontality of the lattice walls is contrasted by multiple gestures of verticality through a system of skylights with an expressive force in the environment.

the project develops a double and balanced gesture between permeability and presence

the two-story structure is made of exposed brick and concrete blending with the adjacent parkland

a series of protruding skylights stand on top of the faculty

the north-oriented skylights of different heights provide the spaces with natural light and ventilation

the project is planned in three blocks of indoor and outdoor educational spaces

the low-impact architecture is conceptualized on the footprint of the park’s gables

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axonometric drawing

ground floor plan

project info:

name: PILARES Valentín Gómez Farías
designer: a|911 | @arq911

lead architects: Saidee Springall & José Castillo

collaborators: Iván Cervantes, Facundo Savid, Pedro Tortello, Gerardo Hernández, Karla García, Valerio López landscape design: Janisse Cruz, David Díaz, Anahí Toriz

structure: Ing. Oscar Trejo

MEP: Ing. Gilberto Jocirin

lighting design: Light & Effect Pablo Gadsden

location: Mexico City

photography: Onnis Luque | @onnisluque_fotografia

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom