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Architects: Laboratorio de Acupuntura Urbana
- Area: 2614 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Jaime Navarro
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Lead Architects: Daniel Díaz Vidaurri, Fernada Tejeda Torres
Text description provided by the architects. The Community Development Center in the old Municipal Slaughterhouse is an architectural transformation project that offers assistance services that promote the well-being and social participation of the community. The project's polygon, "Construction of the Community Development Center in the Old Municipal Slaughterhouse," is located in the Las Rosas sector in the city of San Cristobal de las Casas, in the state of Chiapas. The project covers an area of 2,614.39 m2.
The project seeks the recovery and transformation of the old Municipal Slaughterhouse in the city of San Cristobal de las Casas, rehabilitating the existing physical infrastructure, respecting the main elements and characteristics to create a connection with open spaces and the creation of new public spaces that in turn allow integration with the cultural elements that are part of the collective memory, contributing to the integral development of society from a gender perspective through programs to assist indigenous peoples and vulnerable groups and to contribute, through education, to the improvement of public safety and the conservation of the environment.
The project addresses, among others, the following variables: gender equity and security, since with the previous use, 90% of the people who used the property were men, therefore equal opportunities for the use of equipment are considered, with the inclusion of large, illuminated spaces that allow free access for all people to develop in the community. In addition, it promotes the integration of the urban population with the inhabitants of the rural sector, with a special interest in indigenous peoples, in renewed spaces within the city, and supports public policy against climate change.
It generates a central compositional axis called a recreational agora, which connects the pre-existing buildings with the new ones, seeking to adapt to the variations of time and economic, physical, and cultural needs of all the actors involved. It takes into account the history and memory of the site to adapt to a new use creating exhibition areas, workshops, offices, sanitary services, dining rooms, warehouses, and outdoor spaces taking advantage of the environment and integrating it to generate a space that connects history, architecture, and community.
The "Community Development Center in the Old Municipal Slaughterhouse" integrates the existing endemic vegetation and seeks to eliminate all the polluting agents generated by the old "slaughterhouse" that reached the nearby river, these agents generated an unhealthy situation, releasing toxic gases and contaminating the community's water. For this purpose, extensive cleaning of drains, channeling, and collection of rainwater were proposed, optimizing the consumption of natural resources and restoring cleanliness and health to the community.
The project contemplated the use of environmentally friendly materials such as vertua concrete for the reduction of CO2, gravel that allows water filtration, and local materials such as wood and clay tile, always thinking about low maintenance and long durability so that the community and users can have quality and efficient buildings over time. The concept of the project is based on the transformation of pre-existing spaces, seeking to respect the history of the place but leaving aside the connotation of what the old abandoned slaughterhouse represented, where unhealthy spaces were generated that were not suitable for the community, in this way it was possible to integrate the pre-existing into the new buildings, connecting them with a central recreational agora that unifies all the uses of the architectural complex, seeking to adapt to the variations of time and economic, physical, and cultural needs of all the actors involved, that is, they are flexible, open spaces with a perennial materiality.
The existing buildings are transformed with uses suitable for the purpose of the project, creating exhibition areas, workshops, offices, sanitary services, dining rooms, and warehouses. The large façade is used to generate a stage and set up an open-air theater that connects with the closest surroundings. Inside the elements, there are double-height spaces, respecting the existing materials of the region such as wood and clay tile, creating a contrast with concrete and thus generating diverse environments. The maximum amount of sunlight is taken advantage of and cross ventilation is created in the spaces. The exterior areas become the threads that connect all the activities and are designed for the space, becoming an unfenced space with free access for all people who seek to generate community and belonging.
Due to the conditions of the project, two structural criteria were developed to provide the optimal solution. In the block of existing structures, the restructuring was designed according to the new structural guidelines to provide greater resistance and safety to the building. The pre-existing structural criteria were rescued and the structure was adapted to accommodate the projected new uses. In the new building, in an effort to dialogue with the pre-existing, concrete walls and columns were used, pigmented, with a mixture design that would allow the preservation of structural resistance, and the roof system of wooden beams with clay tiles was adapted to solve the strong rainy seasons in this municipality. In this way, the structural calculation and design were unified with the architectural proposal to dignify the idea of the transformation of the old slaughterhouse from the material and concrete perspective. The greatest construction challenge was the restructuring of the two existing wings, as the structural identity of the "Old Municipal Slaughterhouse" was respected.
These works involved delving into the foundation to reinforce the pre-existing walls so that they could support the proposed roof structure of wood that carries the characteristic clay tiles of San Cristobal de las Casas. From this idea, concrete class 1 with f'c = 250 kg/cm2 and reinforcing steel with a yield strength of fy = 4200 kg/cm2 were used in all structural elements. In each construction step, the provisions contained in the applicable NOM and NMX were followed and it is governed by the indications in the new Construction Regulations for the Federal District.
The continuous or isolated footings are based on soil improvement with inert material and sandy or sandy loam, non-plastic, and compacted to 95% of the Proctor test. This gives way to the concrete walls and columns, with the aforementioned resistances, which will support the building to receive the proposed roof with a combination of structural steel and a design of wooden reinforcements joined by screws to generate a more ductile structure to withstand the forces that will be present.
The Community Development Center in the Old Municipal Slaughterhouse provides the community with a safe space with free access where they can develop and promote activities related to art, workshops, exhibitions by local artists, music, indigenous language classes, customs, and encourages users to adapt the space for themselves; creating a community that feels proud of its roots, customs, and can freely exhibit and represents them in this architectural complex where, by knowing the transformation of use and history, we can see that a place that represented "blood and death" now represents "life and light" in order to reach more people with art and culture and generate a better quality of life without social differences, race, religion, or customs.
