The "Mictlán Pavilion" competition was created as part of the 2018 Mictlán Festival, an annual event held in the municipality of Tlajomulco de Zúñiga in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. The festival aims to highlight Day of the Dead traditions in the municipality, particularly in the Cajititlán waterfront area. To this end, a collaboration was established among the Tlajomulco City Council, the Tlajomulco Youth Alternatives Institute (INDAJO), the Tlajomulco Tourism Board, and CENTROmx. The initiative encourages students from the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area to reinterpret the Day of the Dead tradition and the legend of Mictlán. By doing so, the project aims to reclaim these cultural values and promote local traditions through a spatial intervention at the San Juan Evangelista pier, located on the shores of Cajititlán in Tlajomulco.
Participants were asked to design a pavilion that abstractly represents the Day of the Dead tradition and the legend of Mictlán, while engaging in a dialogue with the 2018 Mictlán Festival activities taking place in the surrounding streets.
On October 13, the jury evaluated the submitted proposals. The panel—composed of Dante Borgo (MAIN OFFICE), Luis Manuel Ochoa (BAC Barrio Arquitectura y Ciudad), Manuel Aguilar Moreno (PhD in Art History), and Denisse Corona (Director of Tourism for the municipality of Tlajomulco de Zúñiga)—assessed the entries based on feasibility, pavilion purpose, interaction with the space, and user interaction. Out of 49 projects submitted by more than 150 registered participants, the jury selected the top three winners and awarded two honorable mentions.
First place: Transición
Authors: Allan Javier Pulido Gómez (ITESO), Paulina Castro Valdéz (Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa)
The jury highlighted its capacity to interact with users, offering a dynamic space during both day and night. Through a passage featuring colors symbolic of the Day of the Dead, visitors are guided toward an altar (ofrenda), evoking the journey to Mictlán. The jury also recognized the project's durability on-site and its active engagement with the local community.
Second place: Memoria, muerte y tradición
Authors: Christian Manuel González Zúñiga (Universidad de Guadalajara), Gustavo Alberto Quiñonez Rizo (Universidad de Guadalajara), Saulo Alejandro Ramírez Romero (Universidad de Guadalajara), Mario Paul Uribe Núñez (Universidad de Guadalajara)
Explanation: The jury praised the proposal's materiality, which uses the symbolism of its shapes and textures to reflect the syncretism of the Day of the Dead tradition in Mexico. The panel also valued how the design addresses the challenge of its relationship with the lagoon, as well as the introspective dialogue it prompts in the user.
Third Place: Peregrinación al Mictlán
Authors: Bárbara Muñoz de Cote Madrazo (Mumo Casa), Edgar Radillo Alba (Mumo Casa)
Explanation: The jury highlighted the proposal's ease of assembly and how it integrates the entire town into the festival, noting its conceptual value in relation to the legend of Mictlán.
Honorable Mention: Miccaotli
Authors: Gabriel Alfaro Fregoso (Universidad de Guadalajara), Paloma Villaseñor Villanueva (Universidad de Guadalajara), Andrés Guardado Ramírez (Universidad de Guadalajara)
Honorable Mention: Tlaltecuhtli
Authors: Natalia Sánchez Aparicio (Universidad de Guadalajara), David Lozano Díaz (Universidad de Guadalajara)
We congratulate the winners and all participants. The winning project will be inaugurated on Saturday, October 27 at 6:00 PM at the San Juan Evangelista pier, located at Calle Emiliano Zapata S/N, San Juan Evangelista, Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, Jalisco.
This article was written by Mónica Arellano. The translation is powered by AI.
