THE WANDERING KIOSK

Mexico City, Mexico
2019

This project tells two stories, or the same story told twice with some variations. It is the story of a Wandering Kiosk, a story of cultural appropriations, international collaborations and spaces that travel from one place to another, continuing in afterlifes that their creators never imagined.

The project establishes a dialogue between the Arquine pavilion and the Moorish kiosk of Santa María la Ribera, a small structure that is part of the historical memory of Alameda Central and is an early sample of global collaboration and ephemeral architecture, having been commissioned to a Mexican engineer, built in the United States and traveled to numerous destinations before reaching its current location. Like the original kiosk, we proposed a modular steel structure that can be assembled and dismantled quickly and easily. The square platform of our pavilion and its linear columns and arches, however, condense the geometry of the original piece, displace its geometric center to avoid focal points and tilts the base to allow for a more dynamic relation between visitors and greater continuity with the ground plane of the Alameda. We used a color palette similar to the original kiosk but separated the ornamental function from the structure.

Conceptually, the pavilion is located at the intersection between the specific and disciplinary nature of the Mextrópoli festival and the open dynamics of the city, a unique opportunity to reopen urban narratives, write new stories and expand the connections amongst the inhabitants of the metropolis.