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Community • Ecatepec de Morelos, Mexico Architects: LANZA Atelier

Year Completion year of this architecture project Year: 2015

Photographs Photographs: Camila Cossio

Manufacturers Brands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers: Baumracks , Cementos Moctezuma

Text description provided by the architects. When commissioned to design public equipment along the bicycle track at Av. Central in Ecatepec, Estado de México, we saw an opportunity to achieve common spaces at a very low cost in an area that urgently needs qualified public infrastructure. Thus, we proposed three modules of baths and 13 pairs of kiosks intended to create a democratic urban fabric.

Toilets and kiosks were proposed as permeable pavilions with a microclimate favored by the presence of plants, a small oasis in the harsh climate of the bicycle track. Within the overall slab of each group of toilets, there are four double modules deployed in swastika. Each of these modules is a vacuum with a glass cover, so that when you enter them you are going outside. Three other openings, designed as small courtyards, are located over the beds of plants that cross the roof slab into the sun. Finally there is not a clear distinction between being inside and outside.

Kiosks are planted intermittently along the bicycle track. Its walls are also located in swastika with benches and tables that are embedded in the walls of block, using the gaps left by it as formwork. At each kiosk there is a central patio traversed by a large palm tree. Both for the construction of toilets and kiosks, concrete blocks and steel sheet walls painted white, were used.

The landscaping project incorporated one hundred new trees. Vines covered the fence that divides the avenue and the bicycle track, creating a green division between traffic and cyclists, joggers and pedestrians. Palm trees are generally located within the kiosk in the small central courtyard and jacaranda trees are planted in a more organic arrangement within the bays. Bamboos were used only in toilets modules to create a visual division between male and female toilets. Common sinks are located in the central space favoring the respectful coexistence of all users.

In both typologies was intended to explore the gradations of interior and exterior and the ability of an extremely simple initial program to welcome the richness and unpredictability of uses of life.