The small town of Puerto Escondido in Oaxaca, Mexico obtained its tourist boom thanks to its waves suitable for surfing, for which it has achieved worldwide recognition. The Cultural and Memorial Center of Puerto Escondido arises from the need to create a space dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of culture in the area. The approach proposes and analyzes the creation of large-scale educational and cultural buildings, they are not only necessary at large cities but also vitals in small towns and new settlements, in order to preserve and enhance their heritage. The building is an educational and sociocultural complex within a linear park, which together operates as a Master Plan for the coastal axis of Zicatela.
The volume creates an envelope for the vegetation through patios that are transformed into internal gardens and open-air galleries. The structure rises from the ground simulating a mangrove, allowing adaptability to the natural phenomenon of high tide. At the same time, a platform is created where cultural, recreational and educational activities converge with visuals of the ocean.
The facade of the building is a permeable wooden lattice, in order to let in the sea breeze of the gravity waves. This same connection of fluidity is transmitted on the roof that simulates the waves of the ocean and creates a skatepark as part of the public space.
The linear park of the Master Plan works as a sustainable axis that integrates the bioclimatic factors to the functional multiplicity of each of the spaces, this is how the entire plan is permeated with the coastline of the Pacific Ocean and in turn is set as a center of sociocultural encounter.
In the interior of the sociocultural center converges an auditorium, a library, a history-fauna-flora 3D projection room, art galleries, a coffee shop & bar, a digital archive, an art workshop and a multipurpose workshop. In the outside the linear park is complemented by bicycle paths on the beach boulevard, a public gym, climbing walls, sports fields and shady green areas, detailed with sculptures and ceramics by the mexican artist Francisco Toledo. All the spaces are permeated with the urban context and the visuals of the ocean.
Through a population survey of tourists and locals, it was possible to determine which were the necessary spaces to protect the folklore of Puerto Escondido and find the preferred site for the project.
