The team, made up of the Barcelona-based practice MX_SI and SPRB, a practice from Guadalajara (Mexico), was unanimously awarded first prize from the 171 proposals submitted. With the slogan “Let’s Make City”, the winning team’s project opens up the museum to public space by generating a continuous space between the plaza and the ground floor of the new building.

The winner of the National Architecture Competition for the construction of Papalote Children’s Museum in Iztapalapa, in the east of Mexico City, has been announced. The jury, which comprised Miquel Adrià, Mauricio Amodio, Dolores Beistegui, Ernesto Betancourt, Fernanda Canales, Víctor Legorreta and Benjamín Romano, agreed unanimously to award first prize to the joint team of MX_SI, a Barcelona-based international practice made up of Mara Partida, Boris Bezan and Héctor Mendoza, and SPRB, Laura Sánchez Penichet and Carlos Rodríguez Bernal’s practice based in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The competition, announced in July in the framework of the project for the Constitución de 1917 Modal Transfer Centre organized by the local government and the Ministry of Urban Development, attracted 171 projects by Mexican practices, of which seven finalists went on to the second phase. These seven were TAX Taller de Arquitectura-Alberto Kalach, DCPP; CRAFT Arquitectos; FRG2 Taller de Arquitectura; the team of Jorge Ambrosi and Gabriela Etchegaray; the team of Armando Birlain, David Martínez and Ximena Pérez, and, finally, the winners, MX_SI + SPRB. The future facility is scheduled to open in 2017. 

With the slogan “Let’s Make city”, the winning project is clearly intended to be an activator in the urban environment. It is a design for an integrative museum that opens up to the city and is incorporated into public space, creating physical continuity on the ground floor and visual continuity on the upper storeys, via great windows on the city.

The urban strategy of the museum sets out to recover the value of public space as a meeting place at street level and respond harmoniously to the urban junction in which it is set. The building is set back a few metres from the street to generate an urban plaza, a great public lobby that acts as an extension to the museum. Access to the centre is via a diffuse boundary, a forest of column walls that draw the plaza into the inside of the complex.

The public brief of café, gift shop, etc. is located on the ground floor, where there is no access control, and the interactive layout of the exhibition areas located on the upper floors starts on the mezzanine floor, where the multipurpose rooms and foyer of the IMAX cinema and theatre are also situated. The different levels of the museum house the various briefs, each with an outdoor space with specific characteristics, such as terraces and gardens.

The building’s floor plan is laid out in 10-metre strips that respond to the structural rhythm of the construction module, comprising exposed concrete screen walls that are joined by a V-shaped beam-roof. These walls make up the museum’s abstract forest and are designed with careful attention to texture, in a reference to the trunks of the Tree of Tule, with its stout, rugged base that branches out and becomes narrower towards the top. The grouping of modules according to a strategy of horizontal and vertical movement generates the volume of the new museum.

CREDITS. THECNICAL SHEET.-

Architects.- MX_SI: Mara Partida, Boris Bezan, Héctor Mendoza. Colaboradores.- Olga Bombac, Oscar Fabian Espinosa
SPRB arquitectos: Laura Sánchez Penichet, Carlos Rodríguez Bernal. Colaboradores: Ricardo Valdivia, Lidia Nájera, Claudia Bucio
Structural Engineer.- BEST Consultoría Estructural Barcelona. Nacho Costales, Carlos Jaen
BEST Consultoría Estructural Guadalajara. Ing. Andrés Velasco

Dates.- Competition July 2015. Construction: 2017
Site.- Iztapalapa, Ciudad de México
Area.- 17.500 m²
Budget aprox.- 275.000.000 MXN
Client.- Papalote Museo del Niño

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​SPRB es un taller de arquitectura establecido en Guadalajara, Jalisco, dirigido por Laura Sánchez Penichet y Carlos Rodríguez Bernal.

Laura Sánchez Penichet. Graduated by ITESO, 2001. Master's degree in Sustainable Architecture and Environmental Control Techniques, by UPC, Barcelona, 2004. Master's degree in Digitalization of Architectural Projects by UPC, Barcelona, 2005. Design Teacher in ITESO's School of Architecture, since 2006. Collaborator in DOSBASSO architectural studio Barcelona, 2004-2005. Head of Construction in Puerta de Hierro, 2005-2007

Carlos Rodríguez Bernal. Graduated Architect by UAG, 1994. Master in Landscape Architecture by UPC, Barcelona, 1999. Founder and editor of architectural magazine PISO. Director of Architectural Department of "Monterrey Technology Center" Campus in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, 2001-2005. Postgraduate Faculty Member in Landscape Architectural Mastership in "Universidad Iberoamericana", León, Guanajuato, México, since 2000.

Design Teacher in ITESO's School of Architecture since 2006.
Academic at the National Academy of Architecture since 2006.
Academic at the National Academy of Architecture (Mexico), since 2015.
Member of the Advisory Committee at National Council for Culture and Arts (CONACULTA) in Architecture Section, Mexico, 2004-2005. Scholarship recipient from FONCA, for over-seas studies, 1997-1999.

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MX_SI is a creative studio of architecture, a team of international experienced architects based in Barcelona. The studio was founded in 2005, by Boris Bezan, Héctor Mendoza, Mara Partida and Mónica Juvera, upon receiving the first prize for the construction of 'The Centre Federico García Lorca' in Granada - their first work together. Since then, work has been focused primarily on developing public competitions either cultural or historic city centers. Gradually, its creative activity has been consolidated by winning numerous prizes in national and international competitions.

Boris Bezan was born in Slovenia in 1972. He graduated in Architecture at Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za Arhitekturo, in1999. In the year 2000 he obtained a Master degree in Architecture and Urban Culture at the UPC in Barcelona. Before co-founding MXSI he had received prizes on several international architectural competitions like Europan 5 in Croatia in 1999, the Large Sports Center in Maribor, Slovenia in 1997, the Ljubljana Master Plan in 2001, or the landscape proposal for the Guadiana river front in Ayamonte, Spain. He worked as collaborator at the practice of Jose Luis Mateo, where he was involved in a significant number of awarded projects. His professional work has been internationally published and exhibited, and he has been invited to give lectures and conferences at several architecture schools, public and private institutions. In 2005 he established the MXSI architectural studio in Barcelona after winning several international competitions such as the competition for the design of the “Federico García Lorca Center” in Granada, Spain.

Mara Partida was born in Mexico City in 1974. She graduated as an architect in 1997 at ITESO University in Guadalajara Mexico. Already as student she won several professional competitions and obtained important awards like the most valuable student of her generation. Between 1997 and 1999 she worked with Legorreta Architects on different projects in Mexico, U.S.A and Europe. In 1999 she obtained the CONACYT scholarship for studying the M. Arch. Master in Architecture and Urbanism at the Design Research Laboratory (AA-DRL) at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, where she graduated in 2001. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Architectural Design at the UPC in Barcelona, where she obtained her doctor degree with Honours “Cum Laude”. Her research work has been the subject of several international publications and exhibitions. In 2005 she began her professional career in Spain. She co-founded MX_SI Architectural Studio after winning several international competitions. She combines her professional career with academic work. She is a professor at the Architectural Design Department at the ETSAB UPC in Barcelona.

Héctor Mendoza was born in Mexico in 1974. He graduated as an architect at ITESO University in Guadalajara Mexico in 1997.  In 1998 he won the CONACYT scholarship for doing post-graduate studies at the Architectural Association, where he obtained the M.Arch. Master in Architecture and Urbanism at the Design Research Laboratory (AA-DRL) in 2000. In that same year he extended his scholarship in order to continue with Doctoral studies. He did his Ph.D. at the Architectural Design Department at the ETSAB UPC in Barcelona and in January 2005 he received his Doctor degree with Honours “Cum Laude”. Before co-founding MX-SI, he worked as design architect at several international offices such as Brissac-Gonzalez Architecture in London, Massimiliano Fuksas in Rome, Jose Luis Mateo, or RQP in Barcelona. He is a professor at the Department of Architectural Representation and Visual Analysis I at the ETSA UPC Barcelona.

Mónica Juvera was born in México in 1974. She graduated at the ITESM CQ México in 1997.  In 2002 she did her Master in Landscape Architecture at the UPC in Barcelona with a Thesis proposal that analysed aerial landscape views by Paul Klee. Before establishing MX_SI, she worked with Itamar Batista in Salvador de Bahía, Brasil in 1996.  In 1997 her work was recognized at the 1st prize for Bahía’s Furniture Design, and prize winner for the landscape proposal for the Guadiana river front in Ayamonte, Spain. In 2005 she established the MXSI architectural studio in Barcelona after winning several international competitions such as the competition for the design of the “Federico García Lorca Center” in Granada, Spain. In 2007 she obtained the “Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes” (FONCA) scholarship for young creators. She proposed the idea of generation of a new urban structure from city’s natural reservoir. Her professional and research work has been internationally published and exhibited, and she has been invited as critic and lecturer at several architecture schools.

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Mendoza Partida is an international architecture practice based in Barcelona, the product of the symbiosis and connection between Héctor Mendoza and Mara Partida.

Héctor Mendoza. PhD in Architectural Design (UPC Cum Laude), M.Arch. AA Achitectural Association School of Architecture, London. Architecture Degree ITESO, Guadalajara, Mexico. Founding Partner of MENDOZA PARTIDA Architecutal Studio based in Barcelona (before MX_SI)

Vice Dean at ETSAB UPC since 2018, and Lecturer at the Architectural Representation Department since 2008. Guest Faculty at different international universities, like DRURY in Missouri USA, UACJ in Ciudad Juarez, or the CHINA ACADEMY of ARTS in Hangzhou directed by Professor Wang Shu.

Before founding his own studio with Mara Partida, he gained experience at well known architecture studios like Massimiliano Fuksas in Rome, Mateo Architects in Barcelona, Brissac Gonzalez in London, and Op Team in Barcelona.

Mara Partida. PhD in Architectural Design (UPC Cum Laude), M.Arch. AA Achitectural Association School of Architecture, London. Architecture Degree ITESO, Guadalajara, Mexico. Founding Partner of MENDOZA PARTIDA Architecutal Studio based in Barcelona (before MX_SI)

Mara combines his professional activity with academic work and research. She is Lecturer at the Architectural Design Department at ETSAB UPC since 2008, and she has been appointed Guest Faculty at different international universities, like DRURY in Missouri USA, UACJ in Ciudad Juarez, or the CHINA ACADEMY of ARTS in Hangzhou directed by Professor Wang Shu.

Mara obtained the Conacyt scholarship in 1999 for PostGraduate studies at the Architectural Association in London and UPC in Barcelona. Before founding her own practice, she collaborated with Architect Ricardo Legorreta in Mexico City, and with Del Campo Montoliu Architects in Barcelona.
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