Following last year's grand opening of the art, architecture and design school at the University of Monterrey (The Gate of Creation), Mexico has been gearing up for the launch of its second high profile public building designed by Tadao Ando; the home for the Casa Wabi Foundation.
Set up by artist Bosco Sodi and directed by Patricia Martin (former director and curator of La Colección Jumex), the art foundation is situated on the outskirts of Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, about 500 miles southwest of Mexico City. Sodi 'always admired Ando's architecture' and approached the Japanese Pritzker Prize-winning architect for the design of his foundation's new headquarters. There is one more Japanese connection - Casa Wabi is named after the Japanese ideal of wabi-sabi, which revolves around the beauty of life's imperfections.
Ando obliged, creating a central complex around which sit six freestanding residences. The composition also includes two studios, an exhibition space and several multipurpose spaces. A 67-acre botanical garden set to become the foundation's outdoor contemporary art collection completes the scheme.
The architecture combines modern and traditional materials and techniques; the structure is concrete, following Ando's signature style, but also uses the region's traditional 'palapa' construction. This is an open-sided pavilion featuring a thatched roof made of dried palm leaves that is common in that area of Mexico.
Casa Wabi opens this weekend with a new site-specific installation by French artist Daniel Buren and aims to run four main programs: an interdisciplinary artist residency, social and education programs and a garden and film program that will bring together the artists and the local community. The foundation is open by appointment.
The architecture combines modern and traditional materials and techniques.
The structures are concrete, following Ando's signature style, but the architect also uses the region's traditional 'palapa' pavilions.
A palapa is an open-sided pavilion, featuring a thatched roof made of dried palm leaves that is common in that area of Mexico
The complex includes two studios, an exhibition space and several multipurpose spaces.
Casa Wabi takes its name after the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi, which revolves around the beauty of life's imperfections.
The foundation's team aims for the program to bring together the artists and the local community.
ADDRESS
G Protasio Tagle 41, Piso 1
San Miguel Chapultepec
Miguel Hidalgo, 11850
Mexico
-
An Indian mud house - and more, on Sketch Design Studio's natural material wondersSketch Design Studio in Rajasthan, India does wonders with the simplest ingredients
-
Experience this Singapore apartment’s Zen-like qualities and cocooning urban havenWelcome to Singapore apartment The Rasidence, a spacious, Zen-like interior by Right Angle Studio
-
The Park: step inside Jeremy King's mid-century dinerOne of several 2024 openings from restauranteur, Jeremy King, food critic Ben McCormack books in at The Park
-
Mexico's long-lived football club Atlas FC unveils its new groundsSordo Madaleno designs a new home for Atlas FC; welcome to Academia Atlas, including six professional football fields, clubhouses, applied sport science facilities and administrative offices
-
Discover Casa Roja, a red spatial exploration of a house in MexicoCasa Roja, a red house in Mexico by architect Angel Garcia, is a spatial exploration of indoor and outdoor relationships with a deeply site-specific approach
-
HW Studio’s Casa Emma transforms a humble terrace house into a realm of light and spaceThe living spaces in HW Studio’s Casa Emma, a new one-bedroom house in Morelia, Mexico, appear to have been carved from a solid structure
-
Tadao Ando: the self-taught contemporary architecture master who 'converts feelings into physical form’Tadao Ando is a self-taught architect who rose to become one of contemporary architecture's biggest stars. Here, we explore the Japanese master's origins, journey and finest works
-
An Oaxacan retreat offers a new take on the Mexican region's architectureThis Oaxacan retreat, Casa Caimán by Mexican practice Bloqe Arquitectura, is a dreamy beachside complex on the Pacific coast
-
Take a plunge at Brandílera House on the Mexican Pacific CoastBrandílera House by Manuel Cervantes Estudio is a Mexican Pacific Coast retreat making the most of its views and green site
-
Step inside Quinto Sol house, a verdant oasis in Mexico's Pacific CoastQuinto Sol house by architect Cristina Grappin blends indoors and outdoors in a masterful architectural composition in the Mexican countryside
-
At Lee Ufan Arles, tension and calm guide relationships between space and artLee Ufan Arles opens in the south of France, a collaboration between the famed Korean artist and Japanese architect Tadao Ando
