During our last visit to Mexico City, we pop up with this amazing sculptural garden in Chapultepec, one of the most important parks of the City.
The project by Gaeta - Springall Architects plays the double role of public space and memorial. Violence is suggested in two dimensions: the void and the built. On one hand, the void proposed in the project is the space created between the steel walls and the trees. The void evokes the non-presence and the absence of the victims. On the other hand, the surfaces of the steel walls, rusty or mirroring, show that we can be contained or lost, and that we can add or multiply ourselves. Thus, if we see violence as destruction, building these seventy walls acts as an antidote to violence. The walls appear among the trees, setting off a dialogue between nature and architecture: forest of trees and forest of walls
In the central space, which is the main space of the memorial, there is a 1,200-square-meter reflective pool with an undetermined form and open geometry. It is open and undetermined like the rest of the project: an unfinished form that fuses materials. It is here that the walls shine in all their glory, arresting and dramatic, reflected shapes in the pools, drawing the eye to the skies and the water, elements that are natural and infinite. They become mirrors or canvasses. In them, visitors will see their reflection as well as the forests and will also be able to write, draw and express their feelings.
Loved the space, the vibe and all the meaning, definitely a place to visit.