La Puerta

This project was part of an exchange program with the Rafael Landivar University in Guatemala, Guatemala, as an exercise to explore different views over the same matter. The idea emerged from a government program called Mexico-Panama, which had in purpose to trigger development through the length of the Pan-American Highway, which works as a link between Mexico and Central America.The selected site was la Mesilla a ravine divided by the border between Mexico and Guatemala. The project would consist of a series of requirements to enhance cultural exchange between these countries. We developed the projects and flew down to Guatemala to present them. La Puerta literally translates as the door/doorway.

This particular project had very ambitious requirements, in first place, we had the intention of placing the project right in the inclination of a dominant hill in site, this added certain complexity to it, because we needed to include a control base for the border-crossing of trucks and trailers, which would have been very difficult in such conditions, so we decided to divide the project, sending these area to a less difficult geography, leaving the use of the hill to a less aggressive use, destined to buses and general public, with a more extensive program, including banks, a hostel, a hotel, a cultural centre, a school, government offices(both Guatemalan and Mexican), a marketplace, various restaurants and small shops, a bus station and a small train station used to communicate the complex with the neighboring cities in both sides of the border.

We took advantage of the existing topography, forming platforms which mimetize with the environment as phalanges in which all the activities converge for ephemeral and static population from the cities nearby, Cuauhtemoc City in Mexico, and La Mesilla in Guatemala.

School Works UIA 1998-2003

La Mesilla-Border Guatemala-México

Studio VI

Team: Moises Covalin-Rodrigo Langarica-Soledad Taddei