Around 2 million pilgrims each year walk the Pilgrim Route located in Jalisco, Mexico, through existing mountains between the towns of Ameca and Talpa to see the Virgin of the Rosary as an act of devotion, faith and purification. Due to the influx of visitors and as an effort to improve the experience for walkers the Jalisco State Government and the State Tourism Agency, financed the construction of infrastructure to give shelter and basic services to pilgrims, under this assignment shelters located in Estanzuela and Atenguillo were developed. Among the premises for architectural design were the following, understanding and integration context, functionality, null maintenance, be modular and the use of local labor. Because the amount of pilgrims is so great, develop a program that would adapt to the needs of the visitors was no easy task, so based on the fundamental idea of providing shade and water to travelers, we opted to design buildings that have the ability to operate flexibly, providing them only for basic services showers, toilets, sinks, and mostly a large open space that could well be used for sleeping, resting or multipurpose room. After a thorough analysis and understanding of the context, the inhabitants’ manners and customs, religious symbols, colors, textures, materials, and how all these elements are used in a vernacular way, the clues that would direct the proyect were revealed.
A clear design strategy in which the contemporary aesthetics and the appropiation of local materials would allow the different visitors to identify with the shelters, taking them back to experiences locked in their memory. The architectural strategy consists of a series of base modules which can be multiplied in order to give form to the project, and which make the project capable of adaptation and growth. The atmosphere makes sense when two kind of pieces made of “adobe clay” color-which is one of the predominant color of the region ‒ configure space-. One of them is an essential piece to perform a lattice perimeter at the buildings that reflect the play of light and shadows created by the roofs of oak leaves used in most of the rest of the surroundings, which contain a great deal of sensitivity and space quality.
Material Used :
1. Tecnolite
2. Grupo Napresa
3. KEMIKO
