BAC Studio Description:
Our purpose is to expand our design capabilities by becoming more aware of the Hispanic culture of the Américas, especially Mexico and the Mexicans who have influenced us.
The studio includes travel to Mexico and places within New England. Not only do we see works of art and architecture firsthand, but we also meet and work with architecture instructors and students from the ITESM campuses in Guadalajara and Mexico City.
Our design problem is housing and its associated public and private outdoor spaces. Our proposed site includes parcel 7 of the Massachusetts air rights between Beacon Street and Brookline avenue, including the MBTA’s Yawkey Station as well as space currently occupied by parking lots adjacent to the air rights parcel.
Our studio begins by looking at the work of Mexicans and Americans whose paths crossed in the last century: the writers Ocavio Paz and Juan Rulfo; the engineer, developer, and Pritzker Prize winner Luis Barragan; the architects Louis Kahn and Rafael Urzua; the landscape architect, Ferdiand Bac, and the artists Chucho Reyes, Mathias Goeritz, and José Clemente Orozco.
We experience Mexican culture directly with travel in the mountains of the State of Jalisco, the city of Guadalajara, and the metropolis, Mexico City. Our methods include journals, sketches, photography, and workshops with our Mexican colleagues.
On completion of our travel we explore design through conceptual modeling that is translated into concrete designs carried to a full schematic, including expression of structure, skin, and services.
