Arcos de Jojutla Morelos

Following the September 2017 earthquakes in Mexico, Jojutla was one of the hardest-hit communities in the state of Morelos, suffering damage to multiple buildings and public spaces. Rebuilding identity through urban spaces and securing community approval for the project were the main challenges of the new Jojutla Central Gardens project. Interaction with Jojutla residents was close at all times, as their participation was fundamental to the development and conception of the project. Community leaders, historians, architects, government officials, and citizens at large participated in an open, participatory exercise, which Estudio MMX realized through a design process. The initial idea was taken from the trees, the only elements that remained standing and undamaged after the strong earthquakes. Therefore, and symbolically, the proposal is to transform the civic heart of Jojutla into the "Jojutla Central Gardens," evoking the idea of ​​resilience through vegetation. Accompanying the gardens, the arched structures, which reinterpret the region's traditional architecture, house the civic and community programs required by the city of Jojutla. The materials chosen were ochre-colored artisanal brick, gray basalt stone for the pavements, and a plant palette of local species. Three general ideas stand out in the project: Generate a new identity for the civic plaza by understanding and organizing the previously disjointed space, giving each of the elements that comprise the project a role in the new configuration, while maintaining the relationships between them. Create different zones in the project to include living spaces, community gathering areas, a civic plaza and open-air forum, and, in general, spaces for people to move around, pause, meet, and enjoy. Generate shaded spaces in an open plaza through landscape design and create diverse atmospheres in different garden spaces: from an area with dense vegetation and covered seating areas to a civic plaza with hard paving that hosts other types of events.