The goal of the architects of Erre Q Erre was to integrate the new facility into the existing natural landscape
The Centro de Cultura Ambiental Chapultepec (Chapultepec Center for Environmental Culture) has echoes of both nature and human culture: the semicircle could be the rim of a crater, and it encloses an open area that makes one think involuntarily of an amphitheater. The defining material is volcanic basalt, and around the core of the site there are watercourses and areas where native plants grow and sustainable agriculture is demonstrated.
The complex is a kind of environmental center of the type that became popular in the 1980s: nature and man’s interaction with it are not demonstrated here in a classroom, but in a production that appeals to all the senses of the visitor.
The site is located in the Bosque de Chapultepec, a park in Mexico City. In its place, there was previously a large parking lot there. The neighborhood of Pedregal de San Ángel is adjacent. It houses one of the best residential neighborhoods in Mexico’s capital.
The landscape is dominated by the Xitle volcano, which erupted between the years 245 and 315 AD., which must have been a disaster for the Aztecs and other inhabitants in the valley of Mexico City. They had made the area usable with irrigation canals.
The basalt lava and the enormous ash rain of the eruption have shaped the area.
The crater today is only a large hill and is only about 20 km as the crow flies from the city center.
The goal of the architects from the studio Erre Q Erre was to integrate the new environmental center into the existing landscape. This included representing the violence of a volcano: to this end, the semicircular roof of the facility is covered with basalt slabs. The supports on the side with the amphitheater are covered with crust slabs.
On the other side, the supporting steel beams protrude from under the roof. “The architectural language of the pavilion aims to be one more element of the landscape,“ according to the architects. The strength of these steel beams suggests the force of a volcanic eruption.
The façade of the semicircle does not extend to the ground. This creates an open space inside, from where visitors can look out into the open at any time. In the center there are exhibitions and lectures on the environment.
The round of the amphitheater is covered with basalt slabs. Large blocks serve as seating.
Around this center is a water landscape that originates in the natural Lago Menor. From there, the water flows into the canals and along the walkways. Agriculture, for example, is demonstrated with its changing crop rotations.
Various aspects of sustainable construction have been taken into account by the architects:
* concrete with a reduced carbon footprint was used for the foundations and walls;
* the formwork for the concrete was reused inside for the cladding of the walls;
* the natural stone on the roof contributes significantly to the positive carbon footprint;
* rainwater is collected and goes into the canals;
* 424 new trees were planted in the park.
Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt
Mexico is one of the countries with the most volcanoes and the most frequent earthquakes. One of the many peculiarities is that the volcanoes are located not only on the west coast, where the Pacific Ocean plate dips below the mainland, but also inland.
Scientists assume that the ocean plate in front of the west coast is broken into parts, and that a part of it, the so-called Cocos plate, slides a distance under the mainland towards the east and only there dives into the depths.
Famous among Geologist is the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, a chain of fire mountains that runs across the country from the Pacific Ocean toward the Atlantic Ocean.
Centro de Cultura Ambiental Chapultepec (Spanish)
Erre Q Erre (Spanish)
Photos: Margarita Gorbea
(01.05.2023, USA: 05.01.2023)
