The Pilgrim Route / Mexico

Lookout by Alejandro Aravena

Every year, over 2,000 people go on a 100 km pilgrimage path near Guadalajara, Mexico during Holy Week. Municipalities along the route decided to give the pilgrims some service areas along this route, so the Secreaty of Turism of Jalisco comissioned these projects to a group of both mexican and international architects: Ai Wei Wei (FAKE Design), Luis Aldrete, Christ & Gantenbein, Dellekamp Arquitectos (featured on AD),  Elemental (featured on AD), Godoylab, HHF, Periférica and Tatiana Bilbao mxa.

By looking at the projects, you can tell they wanted this to remain simple, as structures that will remain abandoned most of the year and will age becoming part of the landscape.

Map of the Pilgrim Route, with each project marked.

1, 3, 8, 9, 11, 12 / Godoylab

Emiliano Godoy is a mexican designer.  His firm Godoylab designed the basic services along the route: bathrooms, urinaries, water containers, signals, washing areas, etc. Interesting use of fluorescent elements for signals.

Watch the complete presentation.

2 / Derek Dellekamp Arquitectos + Tatiana Bilbao mxa

This project designed by this two mexican practices is a giant sculpture abstracted from the shape of a cross, creating a gathering space along the path.

3 / Christ & Gantenbein

Swiss architects Christ & Gantenbein designed a sculptural column, with a curved profile. The structure is constructed by the vertical repetition of the same formwork 6 times, giving scale into the open landscape. It´s located on the edge of a slope, becoming a milestone that marks the lookout point.

Watch the complete presentation.

6 / Ai Wei Wei (FAKE Design)

“Walk the line”, the project by Ai Wei Wei, marks  a north-south line along the route, both inmersed and elevated from the terrain to take pilgrims from an intimate space into the openess.

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6, 10 / Luis Alderete

Luis Alderete designed an adaptive module for shelters on the route.

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7 / Tatiana Bilbao mxa

Tatiana Bilbao uses folded planes to create an hermitage.

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13 / HHF Architects

Swiss office HHF Architects designed a lookout point in concrete, with a spiraling pathway that takes the visitor from an enclosed exterior into the openess of the landscape.

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14 / ELEMENTAL

The do-tank directed by Alejandro Aravena designed an impressive cantilevering lookout on an inclinated site.

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14 / Derek Dellekamp Arquitectos + Periférica

The last stop of the pilgrim route, an hermitage built with a simple concrete stripe between the trees. The topography allows for a continous stripe, accessed by beneath thanks to the valley-like condition of the terrain. By mexican architects Derek Dellekamp and Periferica.

Watch the complete presentation.