Description

Above a rural house a new multipurpose room for technological services, the windows make a terraced viewpoint with Catalan vaults, herringbone walls and structural lattices. This hybrid construction integrates culture with production seeking to make a new modest destination in the site.

The concept is a terraced gazebo with curtain walls to take advantage of the views and the climate of the valley, the architecture is domed with semi-circular arches in memory of the colonial remains. Experimental construction systems were developed for Catalan vaults, petatillo walls and lattices armed with concrete nodes; hybrid construction mixes artisan masonry with metal structure to integrate cultural themes into the productive life of the inhabitants, this modest destination seeks to put the laggard community on the map to rescue the old hacienda that has not yet been registered.

Location

This work is located in Mexico, in the Ex Hacienda Ocotzá neighborhood in the community called Julian Villagran, Ixmiquilpan municipality, Hidalgo State. This rural settlement in the Mezquital Valley has an indigenous Hñähñu population (Otomí) and has less than a thousand inhabitants, most of them migrants in the United States.

Purpose

The Hñähñu Multimedia Center project consists of creating a multipurpose room to provide technological services using the upper floor of a rural house. The architecture seeks to create a public place to gather people of different ages around its media activities: cyber café, gaming and cell phone services; the program also includes an apartment with independent access, the ground floor housing was wrapped with a lattice as a base for the building.

Why brick?

The place is domed with semi-circular arches in memory of the colonial remains. Experimental construction systems were developed for Catalan vaults, petatillo walls and lattices armed with concrete nodes.

Plans

Extra Info

Project Name:
Hñähñu Multimedia Center

Date of construction:
December 2019

Constructed Surface:
92 m²

Architects:
Miguel Aldana / Patricia Sánchez / Thania Palma

Design Team:
Diana Díaz, Andrea Molina, Alberto Landero

Engineer:
Juan Aras, Claudi Jean Baptiste, Alberto Hernández.

Colaborators:
Sandra León, Jessica León, Edgar Álvarez.