Yoshihiro Koitani

OBJECTIVE

Large, well-ventilated spaces were built with local coconut wood, bricks, and clay tiles to provide warmth, natural freshness, and good acoustics. The new Community Center reuses the foundation of the existing building and provides a generous space for the town's social gatherings. Mirroring this structure and forming a public promenade that works as a perpendicular extension of the street, each hall of the new music school has a large window to see the top of the trees, and if desired, the doors can be opened wide and connect the entire building crosswise, connecting the street through a lattice, the Hall, the boardwalk, the music rooms, the wetlands and the stream. It is the first building in the town to discharge clean water into the rivers, through a system that culminates in a series of treatment wetlands. In addition, the coconut wood for this site is highly sustainable, since it is an abundant and renewable resource, avoiding the felling of other species. Its production and transfer generate a minimal carbon footprint compared to other materials.

CONTEXT

In this region, the majority of the inhabitants are Chontal Mayans, and their ancestral traditions flow powerfully through music and festivals, both in the Pocho Dance of Mesoamerican roots and in the syncretism of contemporary manifestations.
It is a place with a hot and humid climate, always green, with scarce economic resources. The project is one of the four interventions carried out by SEDATU, as part of the urban improvement programs. Two of its main challenges were both the short time for its execution and its low budget (44.5 U.S. dollar per square feet).
On the site there were two buildings in poor condition, a semi-abandoned event hall and a small Music School with insufficient space and acoustic problems.