Unfoldings and assemblages, representing Mexico in the Biennial

Under the title "Unfoldings and Assemblages," Mexico's Pavilion reports on architecture from its various fronts that are "participatory, inclusive, about processes and communities, where the architect plays an important role." These are the words of Juan Jose Kochen, a member of the Technical Committee charged with selecting projects that tell their story in the Arsenale.

On this occasion Mexico presents an extremely heterogeneous group of architects – from the young until almost 80 years old – and proposals: buildings for health, schools, recreational and community centers, among many others. Among the highlights are the Migrante Cultural Pavilion (under California Norte); La Esperanza Community Centre (Queretaro); the Residence for victims of the Rio Fuerte (Sinaloa); and the Palo Alto Cooperative, the Santa Fe collective resistance residential complex that is the Mexican stronghold for multinational corporations and large companies in Central America.

In the Palo Alto community, 300 residents meet at weekly assemblies to make collective decisions. This working format began in the 1970s in order to manage the fight for lands that were still large areas of sand. Palo Alto residents literally live in the shadow of the city’s financial emblem, El Pantalón. Two different worlds, separated by just a wireframe net, dividing – more than two urbanised spaces – two notions of tenure and opposing communities.