The structural strategy arises from the place and uses bamboo elements, with Tapachula being the largest producer of bamboo in Mexico. As reinforcement elements, steel and concrete were used to promote cross ventilation and natural lighting in all spaces. The rehabilitation proposal strips the structural elements and preserves the original texture of its walls.
Tapachula station by Colectivo C733. Photograph by Rafael Gamo.
Tapachula station by Colectivo C733. Photograph by Rafael Gamo.
Description of project by Colectivo C733
The Tapachula Railway Station was inaugurated at the beginning of the 20th century; with an eclectic and art deco appearance that would later change, in the seventies, to modernism. In October 2005, Hurricane Stan collapsed the rail system in several sections, making it impossible for the train to pass. Given the magnitude of the disaster, it was not profitable to rebuild, so this place, which was for a long time the gateway to Mexico as well as the heart of Tapachula, disappeared and was used as a garbage dump; at night, bedroom and latrine for indigent people.
Hand in hand with fundamental actions on the part of the community, the small space for cultural, sports and local memory activities was rescued, achieving through the Municipality the intervention of the Urban Improvement Program implemented by SEDATU since 2019.
The project seeks to rescue its character as an urban connector and a public park accompanied by flexible spaces with strategic measures to be covered courts, community dining rooms and recreational spaces.
Its conceptual essence arises from the nature of repetition, evoked by the sleepers of the train, and is resolved in a single section, capable of housing small-format spaces on its sides, for sports, cultural and community use, which serve as "foundations". exposed¨to support a light roof of 19 meters high and 32 meters clear, for large format uses; hand in hand with a landscape intervention that shapes slopes, squares and community gardens, taking advantage of the extraordinary local plant palette, breaking the limits between interior and exterior, between what is built and what exists.
The structural strategy and its color palette arise from the place, Tapachula being the largest producer of bamboo in Mexico, in addition to steel and concrete as reinforcing elements that promote cross ventilation and natural lighting in all spaces; and the stress elements that allow for slenderness in the large span, despite seismic and wind considerations.
The Old Station rescued its original character, stripping the structural elements and the original texture of its walls, as well as the character, already recovered by the community, of cultural space and memory for the heart of Tapachula.
