14th arquine congress (mexico city)

earlier this week designboom attended the 14th aqruine congress in mexico city to hear talks from: denise scott brown, alfredo brillembourg, michel rojkind, david chipperfield, peter greenaway, andrés jaque, kersten geers, roman delugan, saskia sassen, yoshiharu tsukamoto and manuel delgado.

kersten geers
image: designboom

over two days each of the speakers shared their thoughts on ‘space’ by way of their portfolios and research, our personal highlights included; peter greenaway’s presentation in which he discussed the limitations of aspect ratios for screen and how working with architects and dancers had enhanced his understanding of space.

tsukamoto presented updates of his work with archi+aid and showed the latest developments from atelier bow wow’s minimum housing projects in tohoku.

the conference came to an end with a fascinatingly in-depth lecture by denise scott brown who, by way of historic examples, photo montages and her own work with robert venturi, illustrated how architects can understand and optimize the use of space on a large scale.

audience at the teatro metropólitan for the 14th arquine conference

yoshiharu tsukamoto
image: designboom

yoshiharu tsukamoto
image: arquine

michel rojkind
image: arquine

peter greenaway
image: arquine

david chipperfield
image: arquine

roman delugan
image: designboom

roman delugan
image: arquine

alfredo brillembourg
image: arquine

alfredo brillembourg of the urban think-tank shared his impressions of mexican architecture with us:

‘architecture in mexico is incredible, its a real laboratory, there’s a lot of contrasts between formality and informality. as you can see in many parts of mexico city there are buildings laid out in loose grids – but what happens on the streets within that grid is anybody’s guess.’

‘I think because of the large population it’s almost impossible to regulate and I love the experimentation that goes on in every block. on every street in the historical center there are interesting things happening among fascinating examples of architecture.‘

‘my personal highlights would have to be the zócalo, torre latinoamericana, and the incredible amount of street vending and the hybrid designs that people have created to be able to provide services. I really enjoy how much life on there is on the street here – because after all what good is a city without people and life.’

denise scott brown
image: designboom