Get to know the cultural center of Tabasco that wins world recognition 3:52
(CNN Spanish) --
In Nacaujca, Mexico, where music occupies a prominent place in the life of the community, there is an open-door meeting point that unites the traditional and the new to put it into public service: the House of Culture and School of Music.
"Nacajuca is a place with a lot of cultural wealth, of many years, traditions and festivals, and we believe that the school will be a meeting point," architect Carlos Facio, from the C733 collective, in charge of this spectacular, explains to CNN en Español. project in the Mexican state of Tabasco that today competes in the XII Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism.
Recognize and take care of memory
The House of Culture and School of Music, completed in 2021, is a project that, according to its architects, sought to recognize the memory of the community and build from what already existed, using materials such as local coconut wood, brick and clay tiles.
"We believe that good architecture is the product of intelligently attacking or intervening in a site. Observing it, recognizing its memory, understanding the environmental aspect and obviously the collective condition of a specific community," says architect Gabriela Carrillo, who Like his colleague, he trained at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
It was not about tearing down and building from scratch, but they used the foundation of the building that previously existed to create the new Community Center, which has a large space for social gatherings and a service area with a kitchen, storage rooms and bathrooms.
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For the School of Music, the other building that makes up the complex, they also opted to "recycle" everything possible, says Carrillo, and the result is a building with eight classrooms, a cafeteria and services.
Between the two structures there is an open traffic boulevard.
The work, in addition to its aesthetic value, fulfills a temperature regulation function: the structures are tall so that the heat rises and can work at all times without air conditioning and promote cross ventilation, explains Carrillo.
The importance of the public
For the team of architects, one of the key issues of this project is that it be a public service.
"It is necessary to have more public spaces, more creative spaces, more inclusive spaces, spaces that generate intimacy and people's belonging," says Carrillo.
Facio seconds: "The fact that it is a public, free meeting point and that it has this vocation seems fundamental to us and it was from day one part of what most motivated us to think about what each of these spaces should be like."
Change the relationship with a vital resource: water
The school had a "very unfortunate" relationship with the small creek on one side, which is used as a garbage dump, Facio explains.
Working to improve water management was part of his vision and, as a result, this construction is the first in Nacajuca to pour clean water into the rivers.
"The entire roof is a rain collector. So, all the rainwater is captured, stored and can be used for the use of the building and its services," explains Facio.
Then he goes to a system of biodigesters and biofilters through wetlands so "all the building waste can be cleaned in a passive system with vegetation," he adds.
He finally returns to the waterways.
Bet on coconut wood
The coconut wood that was used for the work is "highly sustainable", says the description of the work on the biennial site, "because it is an abundant and renewable resource" so cutting down other tree species is avoided .
"During its life it captures huge amounts of CO2 and its production and transfer leaves a minimal carbon footprint compared to other materials," they explain in this regard.
They also used materials produced by the community itself and that "gives them their own identity, their own characteristics," says Carrillo.
For the architects, it is not just about the image that the center projects, but about the "atmosphere that is produced from the sounds and how all the traditional elements, from history, from memory, are incorporated", he explains for his face part.