Comments on: below the phreatic level http://m.ammoth.us/blog/2009/05/below-the-phreatic-level/ the herculez gomez of architecture blogs Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:02:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: flooding, previously – mammoth // building nothing out of something http://m.ammoth.us/blog/2009/05/below-the-phreatic-level/comment-page-1/#comment-205003 flooding, previously – mammoth // building nothing out of something Fri, 15 Jul 2011 01:01:59 +0000 http://m.ammoth.us/blog/?p=344#comment-205003 [...] 1. below the phreatic level [...] [...] 1. below the phreatic level [...]

]]> By: readings: hydrologically situated infrastructures - mammoth // building nothing out of something http://m.ammoth.us/blog/2009/05/below-the-phreatic-level/comment-page-1/#comment-4153 readings: hydrologically situated infrastructures - mammoth // building nothing out of something Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:05:57 +0000 http://m.ammoth.us/blog/?p=344#comment-4153 [...] the interactions between city-dwellers and the infrastructures that deliver their water, those that transmit water or those that sit on and in it, the intersection of hydrology and infrastructure is a continual [...] [...] the interactions between city-dwellers and the infrastructures that deliver their water, those that transmit water or those that sit on and in it, the intersection of hydrology and infrastructure is a continual [...]

]]> By: rholmes http://m.ammoth.us/blog/2009/05/below-the-phreatic-level/comment-page-1/#comment-134 rholmes Mon, 01 Jun 2009 02:08:20 +0000 http://m.ammoth.us/blog/?p=344#comment-134 Thanks for filling in a bit more of the history, Mario. I got the impression from what I read that Kalach and González de León were working towards realizing the project (and that they hadn't been successful, since it obviously hasn't been executed), but my Spanish skills weren't really up to tracking down what happened (if the story was even on the internet). Also appreciate the link to Grupo de Diseño Urbano; the name was vaguely familiar (from the ASLA award they <a href="http://www.asla.org/awards/2008/08winners/179.html" rel="nofollow">received in 2008</a> for work at Chapultepec Park, I realize now), but I hadn't seen the other projects, which look even more interesting than Chapultepec. Thanks for filling in a bit more of the history, Mario. I got the impression from what I read that Kalach and González de León were working towards realizing the project (and that they hadn’t been successful, since it obviously hasn’t been executed), but my Spanish skills weren’t really up to tracking down what happened (if the story was even on the internet).

Also appreciate the link to Grupo de Diseño Urbano; the name was vaguely familiar (from the ASLA award they received in 2008 for work at Chapultepec Park, I realize now), but I hadn’t seen the other projects, which look even more interesting than Chapultepec.

]]> By: mario http://m.ammoth.us/blog/2009/05/below-the-phreatic-level/comment-page-1/#comment-124 mario Sat, 30 May 2009 10:12:49 +0000 http://m.ammoth.us/blog/?p=344#comment-124 Great post Rob. Indeed, Kalach's and González de León's "Return to the Lakebed City" was probably the most ambitious environmental proposal in DF since the original Texcoco Lake Rescue was launched in the early 70s. Even though the Texcoco Airport proposal was backed-up by the Federal government and was supposed to become the infrastructural crown jewel of the Fox years, the project fell apart under political pressures. The land on which the airport and wetlands were supposed to be developed happened to be one of the few remaining <i>ejidos</i> (communal property agricultural lands) in the metro area. When the government set out to expropriate the lands for the project, they unleashed a political and media circus with the <i>ejidatarios</i> protesting the project, machetes in hand, threatening to cut any developer or politician that dared come near. (They won, of course.) This was the first major f*ck-up of the Fox administration, and only a taste of things to come. I guess in part this is why Kalach got to design the Vasconcelos mega-library, as a consolation prize (don’t even get me started on that f*ck-up). Not all is lost, though. You should look into the work of Mario Schjetnan, of Grupo de Diseño Urbano. He is probably the only (landscape) architect in the city that has an active and coherent environmental practice and that has managed to develop <a href="//www.mexican-architects.com/index.php?seite=mx_bdw_detail_en&root=130314&system_id=142750”" rel="nofollow">projects</a> like the Xochimilco ecological park, Parque Tezozomoc and the regeneration of Chapultepec Park. Water plays a big part in all of them. Great post Rob. Indeed, Kalach’s and González de León’s “Return to the Lakebed City” was probably the most ambitious environmental proposal in DF since the original Texcoco Lake Rescue was launched in the early 70s.

Even though the Texcoco Airport proposal was backed-up by the Federal government and was supposed to become the infrastructural crown jewel of the Fox years, the project fell apart under political pressures. The land on which the airport and wetlands were supposed to be developed happened to be one of the few remaining ejidos (communal property agricultural lands) in the metro area. When the government set out to expropriate the lands for the project, they unleashed a political and media circus with the ejidatarios protesting the project, machetes in hand, threatening to cut any developer or politician that dared come near. (They won, of course.)

This was the first major f*ck-up of the Fox administration, and only a taste of things to come. I guess in part this is why Kalach got to design the Vasconcelos mega-library, as a consolation prize (don’t even get me started on that f*ck-up).

Not all is lost, though. You should look into the work of Mario Schjetnan, of Grupo de Diseño Urbano. He is probably the only (landscape) architect in the city that has an active and coherent environmental practice and that has managed to develop projects like the Xochimilco ecological park, Parque Tezozomoc and the regeneration of Chapultepec Park. Water plays a big part in all of them.

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