UNI announces ‘Culture Window’ — Architecture Competition to Cultural center at an airport in
Mexico— UNI.xyz
Meeting other cultures
Every nation is identified by its monuments, traditions, or festivals as they are tangible manifestations of culture. These signatures of heritage define the place, its history, and its evolution over time. Their presence increases the popularity of the location, as a potential tourist destination.
Cultural tourism is a trend that dates back to the period of ancient Romans. The idea of traveling to new locations to learn about the culture in the region is popular, even now. The number of tourists has increased globally, with around 1.4 billion international arrivals every year.
The typical itinerary of every tourist consists of the city’s historic landmarks as stops, to experience the local heritage and culture. But covering every location is not possible due to time constraints and extreme labor involved. In many cases, people traveling for a short while or for work reasons, do not have the luxury to go sightseeing. Their travel to the region remains unsatisfactory as they are unable to take advantage of their visit.
How can the experience of local culture be delivered to every traveler that visits the city?
Sneak peek through a culture window
Airports are the biggest traffic nodes of travelers around the world. 4.5 billion people used air travel in 2019. An airport is a haven for many people who are frequent travelers, or layover passengers who are forced to wait long hours between flights. They provide comfort through shelter, food, and even recreational activities that cater to the public. It is an intricate system with overwhelming technical design and functionality. As a result, an efficient center is built, but its aesthetic is rendered with a high-tech yet generic look.
Above all, the airport is a significant part of the city infrastructure, yet its form and ambiance fail to represent neither the city nor its culture. The aerodrome may be overwhelmed by its operations and use, but the premises of an airport stretches far and wide, in any region. We need to find a way of adding a bit of the local flavor to these terminals, so that the rest of the world is connected to the location, through this design. But representing the country with a brief catalog of its history and culture could be challenging.
How can designers help represent a culture to generate a holistic experience?
Brief of the competition
The story of any culture cannot be surmised in its entirety in any form. But a synecdoche of sorts can be created to give a glimpse of the highlights of the history that makes its journey unique.
Brief — The challenge of the competition is to design a cultural center on airport grounds that offers a brief look into the various sociocultural aspects of the city.
To attract visitors while representing the context appropriately, the form needs to go hand in hand with the local elements used in the design. The site is on airport grounds, so the facility must be independent and cause no obstruction to function around it. Crowd management and safety measures are to be employed in access layout.
The facility’s aim is to focus on providing global travelers an experience of the local culture and diversity of the region. The spatial organization must navigate the visitor through a narrative of the local history. Every aspect of design, the ambiance, material palette, and form, can be used to depict local culture.
Design Objectives
- Concept — the cultural representation must be subtle, clean, and apt. The theme of connecting the city to the entire world must be reflected through design.
- Context — design with respect to the site conditions and local context, materials, and culture
- Landmark — Abstracted and alluring form to attract visitors.
- Engage — the social activity spaces must encourage people to take an interest in
- Responsive — the design must be respectful of the prevailing site values and traditions
Site
Mexico is a trendy tourist destination with more than 39 million international travelers every year. It is a culmination of many ethnicities and non-indigenous people from all over the world, creating an eclectic cultural landscape. The rich history of the country dates back to 8000 BC.
The site for this project is located in Mexico City. The Mexico City International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the country. It is the hub of airline travel with more than 136,000 global passengers passing through, every day. It is connected to 100 destinations on 4 continents.
Being at the center of all the diverse cultures and traditions, the location would be the most effective spot for the project. The site is at a distance of 200 meters from the terminal. The road on site is to be retained in the design proposal.
- Site area- 3836 sqm
- Height restrictions — 6m
- FAR — 1.0
- Ground coverage — 40%
- Coordinates — 19°26'48.2"N 99°04'15.5"W
Area Programme
- Spaces to discover — Museum, library
- Spaces to learn — Multimedia Room, Workshops
- Spaces for leisure — Cafeteria, Courtyard, Gardens
- Spaces to showcase — Gallery, Exhibition Hall, Theatre (mini)
- Offices (Admin)
Originally published at https://uni.xyz.
