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Architects
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Location
México D.F. México -
Design Team
Michel Rojkind, Gerardo Salinas -
Collaborators
Arie Willem de Jongh, Alfredo Hernández -
Client
Nescafé -
Area
42.0 sqm -
Year
2012 -
Photographs
Text description provided by the architects. This portal, conceived through spatial design, activated by the city dwellers and the everyday stimuli of Mexico City’s life, becomes a new public piece in one of the city’s most important avenues, Paseo de la Reforma. Nescafé comissioned 8 artists(Francisco Serrano, Mario Schjetnan, Bernardo Gómez-Pimienta, Fernanda Canales, Manuel Cervantes, Alejandro Quintanilla and Alejandro Castro) to develop specific installations with the basic requirement of utilizing a maximum of 1500 metal coffee mugs.
Combining a common every day life object, a mug, with a basic common architectural construction material, rebar, the idea of a portal takes place. The rebar is used as the primary structure for the cups, which are then mechanically attached to each intersection of the steel mesh. Combining 41 main arches, ranging in lenght from 10 to 12 meters, with two additional layers of 56 diagonals each, the piece is inter woven to create 1497 nodes for the cups.
The final shape of the portal, along with the different colors of the mugs selected, reinforce the sense of movement of the piece, which plays a key role in the concept of the project. The steel planters anchor the structure and allow for the vines to grow in between the rebar, with the idea that in time it will cover the entire structure in a green foliage from the outside, while the inside displays the gradient of the mug’s chromatics.
The play of the shadow’s patterns casted on the sidewalk add an extra layer that shifts throughout the day. This installation is intended to be in place during the winter months, providing a space of expression and interaction in the public realm.
