Michan Architecture and Parabase studios have collaborated to win first prize in a public competition for their project Garden and Scenic Pavilion, which will respect the trees in Mexico City's Chapultepec Forest.

The project promises to preserve the environment without generating waste, by digging up the tree-free areas to place the soil elsewhere and transforming the terrain by creating low hills and lakes, further enhancing the area's biodiversity.
Michan Architecture and Parabase have presented a project with three pavilions that intertwine with nature, connecting indoors and outdoors. The forest is placed as a backdrop to the rooms inside the building.

The characteristic element of these pavilions will be a performative roof that will rest on the landscape and act as a symbol of the site. In addition to being fully functional, the relationship to its surroundings is intended to contribute to the culture and landscape of the city.


Jardín y pabellón escénico por Michan Architecture + Parabase. Visualización por Jorge Yáñez Barranco (Contarq).

Jardín y pabellón escénico por Michan Architecture + Parabase. Visualización por Jorge Yáñez Barranco (Contarq).
 

Description of project by Michan Architecture + Parabase

The project for the new Jardín Escénico is generated from the site's own resources, respecting the pre-existing trees and without generating waste. The strategy is clear: in the spaces free of trees, the soil is dug first and then added elsewhere, transforming the plot into a landscape of low hills and lakes. This topographic complexity generates a series of public spaces of intimate scale, favoring multiple outdoor activities. At the same time, the topography itself allows for the necessary acoustic and visual protection in the areas that require it. This way, the Jardín Escénico aims to attract the community and act as a cultural and natural laboratory in the heart of the city.

The topography of the Jardín also facilitates the management of the water resources of the site, being possible to store them in the generated ponds. The small variations in height of the terrain naturally produce diverse scenarios that favor biodiversity in the Jardín Escénico.

The project follows two main strategies to integrate its architecture into nature. On the one hand, the program is fragmented into three pavilions, blurring the boundaries between architecture and landscape, between interior and exterior. The auxiliary program of the pavilions is located inside the hills, ensuring the functionality of the Pavilions while enjoying nature as a backdrop. The second strategy involves defining the Pavilions through a minimal gesture: a performative roof that rests on the landscape and acts as a symbol. The three Pavilions generate life beyond their spaces, relating to the Jardín Escénico, multiplying its possibilities of use, generating unexpected programs and contributing to the civic and cultural discourse of Mexico City.

More information

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Architects
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Isaac Michan Daniel (Michan Architecture), Carla Ferrando Costansa and Pablo Garrido Arnaiz (PARABASE).
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Collaborators
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Landscape.- Tonatiuh Martínez, Alejandra Aguirre (Taller de Paisaje Entorno).
Structural Engineer.- Mario Monotti (Monotti Ingegneri Consulenti SA), Armando Merida (Structecnia).
Theater Consultancy.- Jules Lauve, Scott Crossfield (Theater Projects), Itzel Alba (diseñOteatral).
Acoustic Consulting.- Cristian Ezcurdia, Jaume Soler (SoundArts).
Sustainability.- Victor Viscor (Societat Orgànica).
Lighting design.- Víctor Palacio (Ideas en Luz).
Renders.- Jorge Yáñez Barranco (Contarq).
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Dates
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Open Competition, 1st Prize.- 2021.
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Location
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Bosque de Chapultepec, Mexico City, Mexico.
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Michan Architecture is a studio based in Mexico City founded in 2010. The practice operates as a laboratory of architecture, exploring new possibilities within the discipline. They see architecture as a flirtation towards the built environment; a question towards the norm, a speculation of what the future can be.  

The studio has been awarded by the Architectural League of New York with The League Prize for Young Architects + Designers 2020. In 2019 they are recipients of  Design Vanguard award from Architectural Record Magazine, which honors 10 emerging practices from around the world. "That are demonstrating inventive approaches to shaping the built environment." DL1310 Apartment Building designed in collaboration with Young & Ayata received the 2019 Progressive Architecture Award from Architect Magazine. AL apartment received the American Architecture Prize in residential architecture 2017. In 2015 Z53 Social Housing won an Architizer Award, for Low cost housing. The work of the studio has been widely published and exhibit.

The practice is led by Isaac Michan Daniel. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Universidad Iberoamericana with studies at RMIT and a Master of Science in Architecture from Pratt Institute.He has taught at Universidad Anahuac, Universidad Iberoamericana and the AA Visiting School in Mexico City.

They pursue architecture as a material practice, hybridizing local craft with digital and analogue thinking. The work is a reaction to existing conditions, it strives to find a fine balance for the familiar, yet at precise completely weird. For us this midpoint is where the work is able to speak with the past without copying the recipes, while looking forward for new ways to misbehave mater and tectonics.

Since 2010 the studio has received the valuable contribution of the following people: Narciso Martinez, Eduardo Lorenzana, Denise Peralta,  Arturo Lezama, Alan Eskildsen, Omar Acevedo, Ciria Garcia, Elizabeth Frias, Daniel Amkie, Tamara Cortez, Jorge Sanchez, Juan Alan Gonzales, Daniela Ruiz, Victor Lima, Ehecatl Cabrera, Roman Vicenteño, Sonja Cabrera, Poleth Luna, Jose Luis Ramos, Montserrat Garciacesar, Christian Morales.
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Parabase is an architecture and urbanism studio with offices in Basel (Switzerland), Mexico City (Mexico), and Barcelona (Spain).

The collective has taught since 2014 at ETSAB with Professor Ferrer Forés; at USI AAM (2020,2021) with Professors Carrillo da Graça, Dorte Mandrup, and Leopold Banchini; and at BFH AHB in 2022.

The collective has received numerous awards such as being a finalist with Cartha Magazine in the Swiss Art Awards 2017, second prize in the Curatorship of the Catalonia Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2020, Best Curator for 'Affinities Unveiled' and Best Exhibition Design at the AJAC Award and winner of the first prize in the competition for the Scenic Garden and Pavilion, Mexico City, among others.
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Published on: November 15, 2022
Cite: "A natural space for the performing arts. Garden and scenic pavilion by Michan Architecture + Parabase" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/a-natural-space-performing-arts-garden-and-scenic-pavilion-michan-architecture-parabase> ISSN 1139-6415
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