Mexico-based Taller Capital, who were highly commended in the AR Emerging Awards 2020, discuss their process, and how their floodable public space in Nogales marked a turning point in their practice
How do you get ideas?
Every time we take a walk outside our home. We like to carefully observe the places we have the chance to visit, and to read about creators and thinkers and their processes, and the life stories of people we admire. We like to observe nature and think about what makes us feel comfortable in a particular environment.
What has the Represo Colosio in Nogales taught you about water management and infrastructure?
This project has been a turning point in our practice because it made evident that our research on water, which we have been developing for about a decade, has every possibility of informing design through a constructed and useful project. And, despite the very tight budget, we were able to keep the safety of the surrounding community as a priority throughout the project.
Your architecture is about landscape, infrastructure and urban design. How have these disciplines changed the way you think about buildings?
We have flipped the way we approach architecture: now we first seek an understanding of the context and the wider role that our intervention will play in a specific place. We see buildings as the result of urban fabrics, of the geometries of neighbouring buildings and of specific qualities that arise from the landscape.
You seem to constantly push and challenge the briefs that you receive, to do more. Is it about convincing the client and people you work with, is it about being resourceful and having a clear sense of priorities?
Architecture is not about building a predetermined image. We don’t feel comfortable designing projects that focus too closely, or exclusively, on considerations of light, proportions, materials and structure. As much as we respect these qualities, we are convinced that, in addition to these, good architecture should positively contribute to its surroundings, providing identity and dignity, and forming new connections with the built and natural environment that it is a part of. Whenever possible, we want our projects to become infrastructures that make people come together and, in order to achieve this, we have to question the programme we are given, and find the gaps where we can make this happen. As a result, the original brief is always transformed, usually gaining strength and becoming more closely related to the site as the project unfolds.
Do you think architects need to be taught or equipped differently to tackle wider urban, landscape and infrastructural issues?
We are convinced that the tools that architects need in order to stay relevant, both now and in the future, are to do with the ability to learn that we have every possibility to act as transformative agents in the built environment – precisely the subject matter of architecture. We need to learn – and to teach others – how to read urban conditions and understand their impact on wider cultural, societal and ecological issues. By becoming interested in, and receptive to, wider questions, architects can start to imagine places for positive interactions and overlaps between them.
The combination of infrastructure and public space can prove transformational, particularly in the Mexican and Latin American contexts. What are some of the projects combining infrastructure and public space that you find particularly successful?
We call such projects ‘retroactive infrastructures’ and we have had the chance to research and carefully examine successful examples in the past year – this curatorial project will be part of the upcoming 2022 Lisbon Architecture Triennale. There are fantastic examples in Mongolia, Venezuela, Jordan, the Netherlands, among many other places, and we were surprised to find out how similar they are in their approaches, regardless of geography.
What advice would you give to graduates looking to set up their own practice?
Practise flexibility and perseverance. And keep an eye on the things that are happening around you, in other fields of the arts and sciences.
