A suspended community space. Traspatio by RED Arquitectos
28/07/2021.
[Puebla] México
metalocus, GONZALO GARCÍA MORENO
metalocus, GONZALO GARCÍA MORENO
The architecture studio RED Arquitectos has been in charge of the renovation of an abandoned building from the 19th century located in the historic center of the city of Puebla, the fifth most populated in all of Mexico.
After the reconversion, the building transformed into a mixed-use project, where some commercial spaces can be found on the ground floor, three residential apartments on the first floor, and a last commercial space located in a metal box that remains suspended over the backyard of the building.
After the reconversion, the building transformed into a mixed-use project, where some commercial spaces can be found on the ground floor, three residential apartments on the first floor, and a last commercial space located in a metal box that remains suspended over the backyard of the building.
Traspatio by RED Arquitectos. Photograph by Miguel Ángel Vázquez Calanchini.
Traspatio by RED Arquitectos. Photograph by Miguel Ángel Vázquez Calanchini.
Traspatio by RED Arquitectos. Photograph by Miguel Ángel Vázquez Calanchini.
Traspatio by RED Arquitectos. Photograph by Miguel Ángel Vázquez Calanchini.
Traspatio by RED Arquitectos. Photograph by Amy Bello.
Traspatio by RED Arquitectos. Photograph by Amy Bello.
Traspatio by RED Arquitectos. Photograph by Amy Bello.
Traspatio by RED Arquitectos. Photograph by Miguel Ángel Vázquez Calanchini.
Traspatio by RED Arquitectos. Photograph by Miguel Ángel Vázquez Calanchini.
Traspatio by RED Arquitectos. Photograph by Miguel Ángel Vázquez Calanchini.
Traspatio by RED Arquitectos. Photograph by Miguel Ángel Vázquez Calanchini.
Traspatio by RED Arquitectos. Photograph by Miguel Ángel Vázquez Calanchini.
Traspatio by RED Arquitectos. Photograph by Miguel Ángel Vázquez Calanchini.
Traspatio by RED Arquitectos. Photograph by Miguel Ángel Vázquez Calanchini.
Traspatio by RED Arquitectos. Photograph by Amy Bello.
Traspatio by RED Arquitectos. Photograph by Miguel Ángel Vázquez Calanchini.
Traspatio by RED Arquitectos. Photograph by Miguel Ángel Vázquez Calanchini.
Traspatio by RED Arquitectos. Photograph by Miguel Ángel Vázquez Calanchini.
Traspatio by RED Arquitectos. Photograph by Miguel Ángel Vázquez Calanchini.
Traspatio by RED Arquitectos. Photograph by Miguel Ángel Vázquez Calanchini.
Ground floor plan. Traspatio by RED Arquitectos.
First floor plan. Traspatio by RED Arquitectos.
Front elevation. Traspatio by RED Arquitectos.
Rear elevation. Traspatio by RED Arquitectos.
Y-Y' Section. Traspatio by RED Arquitectos.
The renovation developed by RED Arquitectos locates the commercial spaces on the ground floor of the building, three residential apartments on its first floor, and a last commercial space in a metal box suspended over the backyard, which also becomes a space for public use and entertainment.
The renovation project manages to establish a dialogue between this new suspended volume, built using steel and concrete, and the old building, which maintains its original facade, avoiding large moldings, murals, or other architectural elements alien to the original language of the building, avoiding that the project is transformed by taking a new baroque conception and forgetting its past.
Description of project by RED Arquitecto
Traspatio is a community project. It is about the rehabilitation of historical elements and contemporary intervention of a 19th century building in the Historic Center of the city of Puebla. Converting it from an abandoned space into a mixed-use project whose program consists of three apartments on the top floor of the house and commercial spaces on the ground floor. The side patio and the backyard of the house becomes a space for public entertainment use and is where the intervention of a flown metal box for commercial use is located.
In Puebla, the old houses of a certain degree of nobility had a central patio, as well as the government buildings –it is an inheritance of colonial architecture– but the term “Traspatio” (backyard) had a more popular connotation. Derived from the backyard economy, that is, the lady who in this area of the house had the chickens, where her husband also had the carpentry workshop. This is the case of this house, it corresponds by location in the historical grid to a merchants' house, and where workshops, exhibitions, gastronomic demonstrations are currently held, it is a meeting point.
As it is a popular space by past vocation, from the neighborhood and for the same reason, the materials they used are of this nature simple and silent. The space had already been erroneously intervened; therefore, an attempt was made to rescue the original language as much as possible. We do not use the large moldings, or the large murals, or architectural elements that do not correspond to the historical language. We speak with respect, considering it would be a mistake to turn this house into a baroque conception, forcing discourses, when really the neighborhood is what it speaks, it is telling us around us what materials and what objects are.
Two buildings also dialogue in the space: a contemporary steel and concrete box (which seeks to emulate the cages on the roofs where clothes are laid) located at the back of the space and the old building, of which the original facade was kept. Backyard maintains a constant respect, not only inwards, but also outwards.
The concept of open doors is another essential of the project, so that everyone who passes can see that patio in which they want everything to happen. These doors will open to “show people history, that we can live together and we can be. Show history and those good spaces can and should be for everyone”.
More information
Architects
Collaborators
Angélica Azamar, Rubén Mercado.
Area
Plot.- 403 sqm. Ground floor.- 130 sqm. First floor.- 106 sqm.
Dates
Start of work.- February 2019. End of work.- February 2020.
Location
Puebla, Puebla, Calle 5 Sur, No. 705, Colonia Centro.
Photography
Miguel Ángel Vázquez Calanchini, Amy Bello.
Susana López. RED Arquitectos
Susana López (Mexico, 1980) is an architect with a degree in Sustainable Design and Development for the City from the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey. Her professional training has been complemented with studies in art and philosophy at national and international institutes. She founded RED Arquitectos in 2010, a platform where she develops architecture and urban planning projects in different parts of Mexico such as Veracruz, Puebla, Quintana Roo, and Baja California Sur, among others.
Susana López is a teacher of Architecture, Industrial Design, and Textile has lectured at various universities and her projects have been published in national and international media. The studio has been recognized with awards and diplomas, such as the first position it obtained in the 2012 Cemex Tec Award with the Urban Gardens project for the Iztapalapa Mayor's Office in Mexico City and obtained the honorable mention in the Innovative Mind contest International.
Her practice is characterized by a deep understanding of the context in dialogue with the needs of the site, the client, and the future users of the space. The projects that she has carried out are diverse in scale, typology, and solution strategy, ranging from rehabilitation projects and intervention of buildings with heritage value to new construction in abandoned spaces and remote natural locations. She works with intentions in a personalized way, betting on empathy and honesty in her project proposals.
Susana López is a teacher of Architecture, Industrial Design, and Textile has lectured at various universities and her projects have been published in national and international media. The studio has been recognized with awards and diplomas, such as the first position it obtained in the 2012 Cemex Tec Award with the Urban Gardens project for the Iztapalapa Mayor's Office in Mexico City and obtained the honorable mention in the Innovative Mind contest International.
Her practice is characterized by a deep understanding of the context in dialogue with the needs of the site, the client, and the future users of the space. The projects that she has carried out are diverse in scale, typology, and solution strategy, ranging from rehabilitation projects and intervention of buildings with heritage value to new construction in abandoned spaces and remote natural locations. She works with intentions in a personalized way, betting on empathy and honesty in her project proposals.
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