Studio Viktor Sørless and Estudio Juiñi have designed the Xinatli museum to tower over an area of jungle in Mexico that is being reforested after years of illegal logging.
Norwegian firm Studio Viktor Sørless and Mexican office Estudio Juiñi plan to build the museum out of wood and earth in a project led by Mexican art collector Fernanda Raíz.
Its design is informed by ancient step pyramids, with angled volumes in different sizes staggered up a vertical core.
The museum, which will be dedicated to research in the arts and sciences, will stand guard over a 90-hectare clearing that is going to be replanted with trees.
Located in a tropical rainforest in southern Mexico, the area’s ecology and community have been badly affected by the illegal timber trade.
Xinatli will be built from clay and rammed-earth with wood used for the load-bearing elements. Clay will be bound with Chukum resin and sisal fibre to make it strong and weather resistant.
Studio Viktor Sørless and Estudio Juiñi both specialise in using clay in construction and are keen to see it return as a less environmentally damaging alternative to concrete.
“It saves expensive building technology and is rooted within the ancient traditions of nearly all cultures that have been displaced by modern industrial construction methods,” explained Sørless, who founded Studio Viktor Sørless in 2018.
The building method used for Xinatli owes a great deal to the indigenous construction techniques of the Yucatecan Maya, who plant trees as support structures rather than digging posts into the ground for their traditional dwellings called xa’anil naj.
“Our studio learned a lot during the design process with local artisans,” Sørless told Dezeen. “First of all, how wrong we have built until now,” he continued.
“We have been using this building material ever since humans starting settling; it’s there at our feet, in the ground, as humans, in essence as a kind of cement for a more humane way of building.”
The clay-and-wood building won’t last as long as concrete, but according to the architects, that is the point.
“The building is a fusion of indigenous architecture and engineering expertise,” said Sørless.
“The plan is not to create a building that will last forever. It needs to be looked after, otherwise, it will degrade. This element of transience acknowledges that life is a process of growing, perishing and becoming – and that we humans can make a conscious decision about how we treat our environment.”
The contemporary reimagining of the stepped pyramid, a design taken from Mesoamerican history, is intended to be symbolic.
By moving the widest layer of the pyramid from the base to the middle of the structure, the widest part will be level with the crowns of the new trees.
This, said Sørless, symbolises the overturning of pyramid-shaped class systems in societies where a wealthy minority oppresses a poor majority.
The museum’s founder aims to rethink the traditional museum model and use Xiantli as a platform to advocate “for the restitution of art and cultural goods originating from colonial contexts”.
“Until now, museums have usually been a space where power is put on display,” said Raíz.
“A 21st-century museum should not be a showcase for power but instead a place that advocates for greater equity: in ecology, in art and in society.”
The project will is scheduled to be completed in 2025.
More architecture in Mexico informed by step pyramids includes this performing arts venue on an archaeological site and a bunker-style house.
Renderings are by Bloomimages and Bloomrealities.
Dezeen Daily is sent every day and contains all the latest stories from Dezeen.
Dezeen Weekly is a curated newsletter that is sent every Thursday, containing highlights from Dezeen. Dezeen Weekly subscribers will also receive occasional updates about events, competitions and breaking news.
We will only use your email address to send you the newsletters you have requested. We will never give your details to anyone else without your consent. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of every email, or by emailing us at [email protected]
For more details, please see our privacy notice.
You will shortly receive a welcome email so please check your inbox.
You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link at the bottom of every newsletter.
Zozaya Arquitectos completes housing development beside …
Glass and steel form rooftop Cascada House apartment in …
Vaulted church replaces building destroyed in Mexico’s 2017 …
Amezcua unveils homes built using its prefabricated Kineki …
Paolo Sarra and Punto Arquitectónico convert Mexican home …
Francisco Pardo tucks Casa Aguacates into hillside in rural …
Ceiling inside Guadalajara’s Veneno restaurant resembles an …
HEMAA completes pair of stone houses for two brothers in …
Ceramiche Refin designs porcelain tiles that take cues from …
Modular furniture presented at Maison & Objet feature on …
Tiles informed by natural stone from Ceramiche Keope feature …
Tobias Grau launches Team Home light that “fits flexibly …
Davide Groppi designs Origine light to look like “a bud …
Monto Sit Stand Riser gives option to work standing or …
Frame table by John Pawson for Nikari
Tigmi Trading designs rug collection that takes cues from …
Visit our comments page | Read our comments policy
Subscribe to
our newsletters
Dezeen Daily is sent every day and contains all the latest stories from Dezeen.
Dezeen Weekly is a curated newsletter that is sent every Thursday, containing highlights from Dezeen. Dezeen Weekly subscribers will also receive occasional updates about events, competitions and breaking news.
We will only use your email address to send you the newsletters you have requested. We will never give your details to anyone else without your consent. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of every email, or by emailing us at [email protected]
For more details, please see our privacy notice.
You will shortly receive a welcome email so please check your inbox.
You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link at the bottom of every newsletter.
Please share your location to continue.
Check our help guide for more info.
Please share your location to continue.
Check our help guide for more info.
Please share your location to continue.
Check our help guide for more info.
Please share your location to continue.
Check our help guide for more info.
source
