Maybe making the top 10 list- ever. I don’t really have a top 10 list, so it’s the sentiment that matters here. Certainly of the places I went to in Mexico City on this trip, the courtyard of this enormous museum was tied with the Bibiloteca Vasconcelos in terms of amazement factor- form and function coming together so ingeniously.
2:30pm I determined (a day later in retrospect) was the hottest and most withering time of day for me on this trip (third of 3 on day’s itinerary). I arrived here at 2:30pm needing a break desperately from the punishing sun and heat- but again completely having forgotten why I put it on the list! Coming through the entrance hall, I quickly assessed the situation to understand whether this place was worth my time. Finally glancing through to see the massive courtyard and cantilevered roof – my memory was recalled and anticipation peaked.
This building achieved something about the feeling of coolness. Vast overhead planes creating outdoor shaded areas of some space allowed that coolness to be ever present. A protection that connected back to the architecture of the Mayans, of which this museum is largely dedicated to.
The texture of these window panels also seemed to me a modern interpretation and extension of Mayan architecture. The incredibly well maintaned artifact of a temple in the museum is a great way to see the play of the new off of the old. Though I have to say that it’s not the detail in the stonework of the Mayans, but the depth of the stonework that was exceptional to me.
What I needed was a break- a place to sit, stretch and digest subconsciouly how impressed upon I was about the quality of the built world of this city. What I found was a spiritual moment sitting by this sculpture- where I felt I was in a church more than a museum. The sound and the power of the water falling down, the gift of the particles of water traveling through the air – a feeling of being so small in the scale of something so gravity defying. The contrast of this overhead plane being held up into the sky, while the water pouring down towards the ground and somehow all being served by a singular column in the middle. I experienced the forces of nature playing with and against each other all at once- the engagement across so many of the senses at once, in the middle of a massive city- to create that kind of connection to “nature” through our constructed world- it’s one of a kind.
Website: Architectuul write up
ofallthespaces 