Description of project by C·Cúbica Arquitectos / Sinestesia
The Scenic Railroad of the Chapultepec Forest, known as the little train, was for several decades one of the most attractive recreational and entertainment spaces for children and adults within the Second Section of the Bosque de Chapultepec. This space, designed by Félix Candela, undoubtedly remains in the memory of several generations and for a long time has been remembered with nostalgia. Today, after several years in disuse, the workshop has been recovered to pay homage to its original ludic vocation as the temporary headquarters of the Information Center of the World Design Capital program, Mexico City. The focus of this project is to recover an episode of the collective memory of our city, as well as to show and socialize significant information for the present and future of our city according to the profile of the socially responsible design program.
The CDMX Space is an example of magnificent architecture, absent of stylistic temptations thanks to the clarity and quality of its structure, the neutrality of its components and the layout of the three naves. This urban piece is a fragment of the architectural memory of the city and with the support of Design Week Mexico and World Design Capital 2018 is today offered as a large container capable of hosting multiple uses maintaining its shape, size and architectural character. The restoration, carried out by C Cúbica Arquitectos and Sinestesia Arquitectos, constitutes a new urban piece that enriches the cultural fabric of the Bosque de Chapultepec and the City of Mexico.
The main function of Espacio CDMX will be as a platform and content deployment, as well as a meeting point to link ideas and social design thinking committed to the urban environment. Starting from the notion that the game represents an educational mechanism, this place will honor the playful past through the content of its program. In addition to the process of physical and symbolic recovery of the place, it explores a new socializing potential by nourishing it with different activities that reflect on our urban present and potentiate transformative ideas to rethink the future of our city. During a year, exhibitions, workshops and activations will be hosted from projects of students, designers, architects and cultural production collectives to generate a proposal of very specific content to the visiting public of the forest.
Until May 13, the exhibition "Ten Exponents of the XXI Century City- Architecture- Design" will be appreciated:
As of 1990, the world recognized ten megacities. Currently the figure reaches 28, led by Tokyo, New Delhi, Shanghai, Mexico City and Sao Paulo. This population growth leads to a completely new ecosystem in which the local infrastructure would have to respond and adapt.
CDMX 2018 has invited thirteen prominent architects, designers, urban planners, writers and artists to participate in an International Design Forum entitled "The Future of Our Cities, A Social Approach to the Challenges of the First Urban Century". The objective of this forum is to analyze together the challenges, policies and opportunities facing the cities of the present. To enrich this dialogue, the exhibition has been generated, which presents a selection of projects and city proposals made through different typologies and scales, and which represent a change in the narrative-use of urban space.
Among the invited architects are: REX, OMA, Studio Libeskind, Atelier van Lieshout, Studio Roosegaarde, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Morphosis, Gaetano Pesce, Zaha Hadid and Weiss Manfredi.
