Iztapalapa PILARES Community Center is part of an initiative promoted by Mexico City´s government to provide cultural and learning centers for the most neglected neighborhoods and marginalized communities in the capital, offering classes, workshops and various activities in a safe atmosphere. This project is located in an area characterized by high levels of violence and insecurity, situated on the rear part to the most populated and one of the largest prisons in Mexico (Reclusorio Oriente, for more than 12,000 male prisoners).
The proposal aims to empower community members and visitors to equip them with positive tools to cope with everyday life. The architectural program includes carpentry, gastronomy and body arts workshops, a cyber school and reading room, developed as a single-story building. Despite its small dimensions, the building conceals its views toward its massive neighbor. The main intention was to completely avoid any visual reference towards the prison and surveillance towers, creating an environment that detaches from its harsh context.
This is achieved through four courtyards in the center of the building to which every space opens up, and two gardens on each side that allow cross ventilation and natural lighting, while providing a sense simultaneously of openness and privacy. The building favors a domestic scale and the possibility to open up every space to gardens and recreational spaces on the perimeter of the building, and to the courtyards. This allows the elimination of corridors, since all circulations are developed around this central open space that houses an agora or open forum for multidisciplinary activities.