Lanza Atelier shrouds circular pavilion in water dripping chains
Local studio Lanza Atelier has created a pavilion in the plaza of a famed Mexico City shopping centre, with a wooden platform surrounding a central reflecting pool.
Named A10 Pavilion, the eight-metre-tall structure was built directly on top of a fountain in the plaza of El Palacio de Hierro in Mexico City's affluent Polanco neighbourhood.
Mexican architecture firm Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos designed the monumental commercial centre in 2014, which is one of several locations for the historic department store in the city. Across the street stands the yellow-roofed modernist Church and Parish of San Ignacio de Loyola, also designed by Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos – but in the 1960s.
Lanza Atelier worked with curator Ana Elena Mallet to mark the 1o-year anniversary of El Palacio de Hierro in Polanco, conceptualising the pavilion as a smaller palacio de hierro (palace of iron).
The circular structure was shrouded in galvanised chains through which water that constantly drips. This, along with the reflective quality of the steel, gives the pavilion a "dynamic, living quality" according to the studio.
The design team wanted it to be a celebratory gesture, but also usable and open to the neighbourhood.
"[It is] highly permeable, allowing passersby to glimpse inside, while inviting visitors to ascend to a viewing platform 4.5 meters above ground," said Lanza Atelier
"From there, they can enjoy new perspectives of the surrounding city and a close relationship with the nearby treetops and their blossoms."
Taking the many public fountains of Mexico City as reference, the studio included a reflecting pool in the centre of the pavilion directly above the permanent fountain. The pool was surrounded by a circular wooden bench.
The water in the reflecting pool appears black due to the cladding of the pool's interior and water drips into it from four points in the circular awning that tops the pavilion – a reference to the four primary fountains across the city.
In order to create a vantage point, a walkway accessed via steel stairs wraps halfway up the structure.
Its steel legs and structural elements were left mostly exposed, giving the pavilion a contemporary, industrial appearance, concealed slightly by the more than 1,500 sparkling, water-covered chains.
According to the studio, it wanted to celebrate the confluence of city and water with a "meditative space".
"We proposed creating a contemplative space open to the public, positioned directly above this fountain, which would itself function as a large fountain," said Lanza Atelier.
"The pavilion – an exploration of water and the city – also enriches the public space of the neighborhood."
Also included in the design is a small coffee cart, fabricated from found materials by local studio Ex-Soup, whose recycled furniture has featured previoulsy in Dezeen.
The photography is by Andrés Cedillo / Espacios.
A10 pavilion is on show from 7 October to 6 November in Mexico City. For more installations, exhibitions and talks in architecture and design visit Dezeen Events Guide.
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