Taller Capital built the Colosio Dam Park in 2019 in the town of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. The project has managed to recover the surrounding landscape and has revitalized the town, generating its growth with a population of more than 32,000 inhabitants of all ages. A place has been created where citizens can go to play sports, promoting social life and safety in the area.

The paths and platforms of the gabions make it possible to stroll through the area, even at night, providing good artificial lighting throughout the area, making it a safe space for all those who want to stroll at any time of day or night.

The project has been selected as a finalist for the Mies Crown Hall Prize, 2022 MCHAP.emerge and a finalist in the current call of the XII BIAU 2022.
The Mexican architectural studio Taller Capital designed and built the project in pursuit of a dialogue between architecture and infrastructure. The space is a flood regulator, which had to be respected. The element that resolves this is the gabion, which allows the water to filter through while containing the sliding soil.

All the elements are distributed around the water, which is the symbol of the community and centrality of the area. The sports fields, gardens, and playgrounds are located between platforms and a perimeter wall that solve the problems that can be caused by cyclical flooding.


Parque Represo Colosio by Taller Capital. Photograph by Rafael Gamo.
 

Description of project by Taller Capital

The Colosio Dam in the city of Nogales, Sonora, is an 8 ha project promoted by the Secretary of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development (SEDATU) of the Government of Mexico and developed by the Coordination of Linking of the Faculty of Architecture of the UNAM through Taller Capital. The initial approach was to build a park in an area of irregular settlements, apparently free and adjacent to a body of water. From the analysis it was found that this space was subject to constant flooding during the rainy season, putting the surrounding population at risk with landslides on the banks of the body, damaging the curtain of the dam every year and interrupting the mobility and possibility of evacuation of the inhabitants of the place.

Based on a careful reading of the context (a mountainous site, in which the constructions are light, with a wealth of desert flora and an imperative need for meeting and recreational spaces), a series of project strategies emerge to address each of the problems detected.

1. Containment of the edges of the water body and consolidation of the dam curtain.
2. Definition and design of the space to allow the runoff of water from the mountain range to flow.
3. Determination of specific spaces to receive floods during the rainy season and to function as places for sports and recreation during the dry season.
4. Creation of a perimeter circuit and a bridge to facilitate the mobility and evacuation of the inhabitants in case of need.
5. Design a covered space that will be a landmark of identity for the inhabitants of the place.

One of the most important requirements of the project, which began its design in April 2019, was to propose a fast-track system, as the work would have to be completed before April 2020. In order to implement the strategies listed above, a reduced palette was chosen, favouring the construction systems and materials of the region. The containments and reinforcement of the dam were built with gabion filled with stones from the area, and the pavements and walkways are made of compacted tucuruguay (the tepetate of the region) and polished concrete, respectively.


Flood diagram. Parque Represo Colosio by Taller Capital.

The playground equipment was designed with tubular steel and the covered multi-purpose space was designed with a metal structure (PTR and open web reinforcement) and a corrugated sheet metal roof with an aluminium finish. The interior stands cover two service areas: toilets and administration. These modules are made of flattened cement-sand blocks. Finally, the squares around the covered space are paved with local stone. All of these are bordered by gardens of local cacti. The hydraulic aspect of the project is worth mentioning, as it is fundamental to the success of the project.

A model was developed for the sub-basin so that the volume of water the dam should receive could be determined. This made it evident that the storage capacity was small, so it was necessary to dredge the area of the water body to be able to store more liquid. The design is made to withstand the 10,000-year storm, which means that only if the 10,000-year storm were to occur would it overflow, which is unlikely.

All the spaces to the south of the water body are designed to flood annually and continue to function once the water recedes. In addition, a concrete walkway or bridge was designed to cross the area where the water enters with the greatest force so that mobility is not interrupted during the rains.

More information

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Architects
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Taller Capital.- Loreta Castro Reguera Mancera, José Pablo Ambrosi Cortés.
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Design Team
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Juan Ansberto Cruz Gerón
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Collaborators
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Coordination and execution of work.- Sedatu
Urban Improvement Programme.- Román Guillermo, Meyer Falcón, Daniel Octavio, Fajardo Ortiz.
Architectural project development.- UNAM, Faculty of Architecture.
Coordination of liaison and special projects.- Leonardo Lomeli, Vanegas Juan, Ignacio Del Cueto Ruiz, Funes Leda Duarte Lagunes, Daniel Escotto Sánchez, Loreta Castro Reguera Mancera, José Pablo Ambrosi Cortés, Juan Ansberto Cruz Geron, Andrea Ramírez Becerra, Rodrigo Trejo Uribe, Ana María Yumbe Guevara, Alfredo Manuel Abad Ventura, Iván Rangel Padrón, Christian Paul Espinosa Ramírez, Elizabeth López López, Luis Ivan Contreras Torres, Carlos Joaquín Cruz Gerón, Alejandra Morales Zamacona, Moisés Varaona Castillo.
Project Management.- Honorato Carrasco Mahr, Juan Antonio Giral y Mazon, Miguel Hernandez Valdivieso, María de los Ángeles Rodríguez, Esthela Alison Bonilla.
Proyecto y Construcciones, S.A. de cv Elizabeth Silva Miranda, Ing. José Arturo Martínez Acosta, Hugo Ignacio Sánchez Toledo, Ing. Elvira León Plata.
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Client
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Ministry of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development.
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Builder
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Tucán Infraestructura, S.A. DE C.V.
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Developer
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UNAM, Facultad de Arquitectura / SEDATU- Programa de Mejoramiento Urbano 2019
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Area
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56,700 sqm.
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Budget
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2,087,731.29 euros (42,014,274 Mexican pesos).
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Date
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January 2020.
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Location
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Nogales, Sonora - Mexico.
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Photography
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Taller Capital is a Mexican architecture studio formed by Loreta Castro Reguera Mancera and José Pablo Ambrosí Cortés. Their projects deal with public spaces, private dwellings, and research, among other diverse areas and fields.

Loreta Castro is a professor at the Faculty of Architecture of the UNAM. She studied architecture at the Faculty of Architecture of the UNAM, has a master's degree in architecture from the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture, and a master's degree in urban design with honors from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She has been awarded several grants and prizes, both for her career and for her independent work, such as the Programa de Jóvenes Creadores del Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, a Fullbright scholarship, and the Marcelo Zambrano scholarship from CEMEX.

José Pablo Ambrosí Cortés graduated in Architecture from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in 2011.

Taller Capital has won several awards such as Emerging Voices 2021, Finalist in Architectural Review Emerging Architecture (AREA) and Finalist in the Pan-American Biennial of Architecture of Quito 2020 for Parque en el Represo Colosio, Lafargeholcim Awards Gold Global 2018, Enrique Yáñez Award 2017, Silver Medal III Biennial of Architecture Mexico City, Diez Despachos-Obras Award 2017 and Honorable Mention XV National and International Biennial of Mexican Architecture 2018 among others.
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