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Architects: ColectivoMX
- Area: 1479 m²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:Diego Reyes Larraín
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Manufacturers: Basaltex, Construlita, Novaceramic
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Lead Architect: Antonio Plá Pérez, Gabriel Konzevik Cabib
Text description provided by the architects. The Huexotla Day House and Auditorium project is part of the Urban Improvement Program (PMU) 2020 of the Secretariat of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development (SEDATU) whose main objective is to reduce poverty, improve quality of life and strengthen the social fabric in the most disadvantaged areas of the country. The project in question is located in the historic center of the town of Huexotla, on an L-shaped lot whose corner is occupied by the Tezoncalli House of Culture, which has been declared a historic monument.
The community originally requested an auditorium without isoptics with a capacity for 400 people or more, in the form of a multipurpose room for the assemblies of its governing body, festivities, fairs, and cultural and social events. They also requested for a day house for some 50 senior adults. A more complete program was formed to accommodate these needs.
The complex consists of four central bodies: the general lobby, the day house, the auditorium, and the historic house. It is structured around a central courtyard, which serves as a meeting place and allows the activities of the surrounding premises to expand. The project is built towards the edges, reinforcing the unity of the traditional block. Although it does not directly intervene in the historic house, it integrates and enhances its value.
The lobby on the main street acts as an urban reception and distribution portal. It aligns with the historic house towards the street while growing towards the interior. The lobby contains a kitchen that serves the community, allows exhibitions and medium-sized events, and a patio for the white sapote tree that characterizes the space. The idea is that the premises are flexible and multifunctional and that each space can serve particular groups with simultaneous activities or merge as a single large event space to host one large crowd.
Due to health issues, budget, and low maintenance, natural light and ventilation are prioritized, even in the auditorium. In terms of materiality, the complex has exposed concrete elements, such as columns, skirting boards, and lintels. Hollow ceramic block walls and sand-colored lattices predominate, all with apparent finishes. In order to save and integrate the adobe perimeter fence, in addition to consolidating it and protecting it from the rain, the project contemplated building the façade and adjoining walls on top of the adobe fence with an independent structure. In addition to preserving the existing trees, cedar, and sapodilla, local vegetation was integrated, especially species that need little irrigation, to improve environmental quality. An emblematic ahuejote tree in the central courtyard, and a row of colorful plants in the parking lot.
In short, the challenge was to reconcile a new public facility with the existing vegetation, with the historic architecture, respecting the desires, uses, and customs of one of the oldest indigenous communities in the country.
