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Architects: 3ME Arquitectura
- Area: 723 m²
- Year: 2019
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Photographs:Luis Young
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Manufacturers: Interceramic, NOVACERMAIC
Text description provided by the architects. Located in the Lerma River basin in the Salvatierra region of Guanajuato, historically, it has fostered the settlement of agricultural producers and thus, the conflict over water control in different periods: pre-Hispanic, viceregal, and Porfiriato. Having a record of the current use of pre-Columbian irrigation channels. Finally, the National Water Commission (CNA) decentralizes irrigation systems, which are handed over for operation to peasant organizations; such is the case of the Association of Agricultural Producers of the Irrigation Module in Salvatierra.
This association is made up of 6,100 users; its area of influence covers an area of 16,000 hectares with 70 communities; where more than 32 products are cultivated including grains (corn, beans, wheat), vegetables, tubers, and fruits.
To develop the project, and give it character and value the importance of this organization, it was essential to understand through historical memory, the scale at which these activities were developed and continue to develop and their importance in the region at a cultural level. Thus identifying a scheme of life and architecture where the subject, the rule, and the type in their context form a mechanism in the search for an idea, in which all three are necessary at a cultural, economic, organizational, ecological, and tectonic level.
"The type is understood as that which constitutes the true nature of the work" (Moneo Rafael, "On Typology", Oppositions No. 13. New York, 1978). Based on this premise, the references of regional agricultural architecture were contemplated for the design; the morphologies of haciendas, convents, and grain storage silos were studied, both references of contemporary architecture that remind us of those of the territory and take up typologies that would provide scale, cultural significance, and connection with the environment.
In this way, a building of a scale typical of agricultural nature was proposed with a main entrance framed by two pyramid-shaped bodies of large size, rotated in plan, which represent the ancient grain storage silos scattered throughout the country, giving the building that agricultural scale and historical significance. A plaza and a patio configure the ensemble and generate a walkway that gives access to the different volumes that are located on a stone platform. Thus, the various programmatic activities are carried out in spaces with different heights and are distributed around the patio, which ends with a body of water.
For its construction, the labor capacity of the region was considered, using recovered stones from the surrounding fields, traditional red terracotta bricks, and raw exposed concrete, while the bricks that line the interiors were plastered and the floors were made of ceramic. Once in operation, the Module drives the region's economy and values; actions that give hope and certainty of harvests; as well as generating jobs and agricultural products, strengthening interest in the land, and reaffirming identity and rootedness that consciously inhibit migration.
