Edcouch-Elsa ISD Fine Arts Center / Kell Muñoz Architects

Edcouch-Elsa ISD Fine Arts Center / Kell Muñoz Architects

Edcouch-Elsa ISD Fine Arts Center / Kell Muñoz Architects - Image 2 of 13Edcouch-Elsa ISD Fine Arts Center / Kell Muñoz Architects - Image 3 of 13Edcouch-Elsa ISD Fine Arts Center / Kell Muñoz Architects - WindowsEdcouch-Elsa ISD Fine Arts Center / Kell Muñoz Architects - Windows, FacadeEdcouch-Elsa ISD Fine Arts Center / Kell Muñoz Architects - More Images+ 8

Text description provided by the architects. This building evolved from significant public conversations with students, parents, teachers and community activists, working with historians, curators, folklorists, artists and architects to envision a community gathering place.

Edcouch-Elsa ISD Fine Arts Center / Kell Muñoz Architects - Image 2 of 13
© Chris Cooper Photography

As the first important civic building funded in over thirty years, the fine arts center needed to convey the community’s cultural heritage, hopes and aspirations.

Edcouch-Elsa ISD Fine Arts Center / Kell Muñoz Architects - Windows
© Chris Cooper Photography

The site was built up and the building placed at the crest, so that it could be seen from all directions at a distance.

Edcouch-Elsa ISD Fine Arts Center / Kell Muñoz Architects - Facade
© Chris Cooper Photography

It is a building of its time, declaring a kind of border modernism that is influenced by the regional vernacular of simple auto shops and garages of the Rio Grande Valley as well as an international modernism that is associated with Mexico.

Edcouch-Elsa ISD Fine Arts Center / Kell Muñoz Architects - Image 3 of 13
© Chris Cooper Photography

It tells a story…of La Maquina Amarilla (The Yellow Machine) a rallying cry that defines the spirit of the people of this area. La Maquina Amarilla is recorded as a *Corrido or Border Folk Song that is a part of the oral history of the city. The sound patterns of La Maquina Amarilla have been interpreted as a mural which wraps the building, creating an icon of cultural voice through which every visitor must enter.

Edcouch-Elsa ISD Fine Arts Center / Kell Muñoz Architects - Facade
© Chris Cooper Photography

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Project location

Address:Edcouch, Texas, USA

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "Edcouch-Elsa ISD Fine Arts Center / Kell Muñoz Architects" 21 Feb 2011. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/112561/edcouch-elsa-isd-fine-arts-center-kell-munoz-architects> ISSN 0719-8884

© Chris Cooper Photography

Edcouch-Elsa ISD Fine Arts Center

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