La Planta / Agraz Architects SC

Curated by ArchDaily

Architects: Agraz Architects
Area: 1375 m²
Year: 2013

Where there was once decomposed organic matter, now there is art, sports and leisure. It is the conversion of a sewage treatment plant into a multidisciplinary center.

After being built nearly two decades ago in Tlajomulco de Zuñiga, this place never really worked and saw its contents come into a rapid estate of decomposition. Years later, local authorities called for new meanings for the place, making it a great challenge.

The plant was made of a series of channels containing water within high resistance concrete walls which’s demolition costs were infinitely higher than giving them a new use. The correct equation was, therefore, finding a new meaning to the place and this is how after studying the existing structure and measuring all possibilities, the transformation into a multidisciplinary center was proposed. This is a place that would hold culture, sports and leisure, and that would benefit the nearby communities of Santa Fe and Chula Vista in Tlajomulco.

All water channels were cleaned and access stairs were built placing a 450 square meter roof on top of it all, where a piece of the artist Francisco Morales reminds us that culture is a social reintegrating factor.

While placing this cover, six rooms with natural light and ventilation where achieved, where windows and patios take away any subterranean sensation. The entrance stairs work also as upstage areas, and children can enjoy a philharmonic rehearsal while a ballet class is taking place next door, or a painting workshop, or a gymnastics lesson, or football class too.

Upstairs, in the rooftop, several events can take place. A metallic arbor was placed, allowing people to sit in the shade, and there is also the project of making more sun protection for more activities on the outside.

Advised by Adrian Guerrero and with the participation of Paco Morales, both artists, The Plant project permitted us to transform what was once a sewage treatment plant into an art, sports and leisure production one.