México at the Venice Biennale 2016

In Architecture & Design by Isabella Moreno

Mexico’s Pavilion presented at the Architecture Venice Biennale 2016 was prepared by TUUX and curated by the Mexican Anthropologist Pablo Landa. TUUX is a multidisciplinary Mexican design office that has worked with the people and for the people since long ago and their methodology has always been inclusive. Their team is made up of designers, architects, scientists, carpenters and specialists in different artisan works. Together they exist by creating and developing sustainable projects, coherent with social responsibility.

TUUX means bat in Mixe, an indigenous language. In addition to being a dual symbol of our culture, this enigmatic flying mammal is vital to the balance of many ecosystems. It is also a metaphor for the interconnection of the systems on the planet, including cultures, whose delicate balance we must strive.”

The Pavilion is titled “Unfoldings and Assemblages” and it is a complex presentation prepared by 31 projects established throughout the country. The nuclear topic speaks on the participatory architecture that has been generated in Mexico, It is shown at different levels and exposed in the exhibition space through video, models, photographs and the scenario where they showed in scene this important point of the contemporary Mexican architecture. The sample reveals the close link between the social and participatory architecture in the country, which is produced by the authors of the buildings in conjunction with society. This exemplifies the exponential growth of architecture through means of collaboration.

The action alone of the Assembly in the exhibition space is the perfect example of consistency and sustainability which talks about TUUX, explaining without words and only by the constructive act. The big staples, like the roof structure—that forms the pavilion and communicates the different parts of it with a glowing light—arrived disassembled and folded up and will leave the same. This means that the Mexican Pavilion will leave no waste or footprints in the main structure in Venice.

Way to go Mexico!

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