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Architects: Taller de Arquitectura-Mauricio Rocha
- Area: 8500 m²
- Year: 2001
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Photographs:Luis Gordoa
Text description provided by the architects. The Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired was created as part of a program by the Mexico City government to provide services to one of the most disadvantaged and highly-populated areas of the city; Iztapalapa is the district with the largest visually impaired population in the Mexican capital.
The 14,000 sqm complex is on corner plot bordered by two avenues. A blind wall encircles the complex on its four sides and acts as an acoustic barrier as well as a retaining wall/blank to hold the earth moved from neighboring wasteland areas. In contrast to the abstract exterior, the internal facade of the boundary wall creates banks that change shape, height, and orientation, thus creating various courtyards.
The floor plan, meanwhile, can be read as a series of filters which stretch out from the entrance in parallel strips. The first filter is the building that houses the administrative offices, cafeteria, and utility area. The second consists of two parallel lines of buildings organized symmetrically along a central plaza. These buildings contain a store, the "tifloteca-sonoteca" (a sound and touch gallery) and five arts and crafts workshops. The third filter has the classrooms facing the gardens and the most private courtyards. Perpendicular to the entrance, a series of double-height volumes house the library, gymnasium-auditorium, and swimming pool.
The buildings are rectangular prisms, based on concrete frames and flat roofs. Each group explores different spatial and structural relationships, making each space identifiable for the user and varying size, light intensity and weight of materials: concrete, tepetate bricks, steel, and glass.
The Center aims to enhance spatial perception, activating the five senses as experience and source of information. A water channel runs through the center of the plaza, so that the sound of the water guides users along their way. Horizontal and vertical lines in the concrete at hand height offer tactile clues to identify each building. Six types of fragrant plants and flowers in the perimeter gardens act as constant sensors to help orientate users within the complex.
