As part of the MEXTRÓPOLI festival in Mexico City early last month, Singapore-based firm WOHA debuted their first exhibition in the Latin America, GARDEN CITY MEGA CITY. WOHA's architecture introduces biodiversity into public spaces, turning high-rise courtyards and hallways into teeming community assets. In this exhibition, the architects show how their work has addressed both climate change and the social challenges that occur as a result of rapid (upward) urban development.
We had the chance to speak with Wong Mun Summ y Richard Hassell − partners and founders of WOHA − so that they could tell us more about their practice and their intentions behind bringing the exhibition to Latin America.
The things we are suggesting are maybe not terribly radical in some ways; it's simply how people have lived for centuries. But for some reason, people feel like when they want to live in a dense city they have to give up all these things – like the idea of going out to a garden or sitting somewhere nice and having a meal with their neighbors in a nice corner. So in some ways it's very simple banal ideas about how people like to live and just making sure we don't lose those when we move to a high-density environment.
See the full interview above and find more details about the 4th edition of the MEXTRÓPOLI festival, here.
