My point of view:
on Architecture

Interview Date: 08-12-2010

VIEW the entire interview on VIDEO!

Point of View_MICHEL ROJKIND_part 01 from ArchiTeam on Vimeo.

Point of View_MICHEL ROJKIND_part 02 from ArchiTeam on Vimeo.

-----------------------------------------------------

:: You have created the architectural office “Rojkind arquitectos”, based in Mexico City. 

Mexico is a country with great history. Designing a modern building within this context is a complex procedure. Is critical regionalism an approach to your architecture?

I was trained to be an architect, not a Mexican architect. I am trained to be an architect in any part of the world. But, I am Mexican. I love being Mexican and I love the chaos of my city. My country is a country where you are challenged all the time to think because there is so much chaos that you can’t relax any second. You have to watch out not to be run over by a bus, you have to watch out for a lot of things. My architecture is more about how we perceive a design, how we are able to really have fun in the process. We enjoy what we do.

Architecture is so difficult to do, that we try to have as much fun as possible so that we can really go over the parts that become complicated in the day to day of construction or designing and make it a more enjoyable process and have a good time. My architecture has sense of humor, it is playful, It has a lot of different understandings of space and use of light and things but in a way that every project is a result of the analysis or the research for each of the projects. There is no formula to make them exactly alike because, in my head, I cannot proceed doing projects that look alike. There are different clients, different projects and different circumstances. You have to build on the project that you have at the moment, , the clients need and desires, their geographical location, budget, timeframe, etc…

Mexico City is facing an enormous urban growth. How can architects manage to design buildings in terms of sustainability within this unstoppable construction madness?

We are not the only ones with that high density or that overgrowing population. Things that have been discussed are how to stop the urban sprawl or how to make the city concentrated and make it “tall”. Because, for the size of Mexico, is not really high. You will see it when you travel there. We don’t have as many high rises as you would expect. Mexico is a city that could have a little of Manhattan in it. But, it doesn’t have it. Now, they are changing some zones so that they can really go higher and people might say “Why to go higher if it is an earthquake soul?” 

But, today, everybody is getting a bit better and we have more knowledge of things, so we can build high and it doesn’t matter. Actually, in “Paseo de La Reforma” which is one of the most important avenues that you will see in Mexico, they are now changing the zoning to forty levels and they are having a lot of high rises build in that area, which is great for the city. First of all, we must stop the urban sprawl because now we are twenty two million and if it keeps on sprawling we will eventually reach out I don’t know how many people. And we need more public spaces. Besides the density and the high level, it is taking some plots out and bringing in more parts from more public areas so that the people can really live in these areas.

In most of the areas in Mexico, there is not a really good quality of spaces to walk around and travel around. But this is changing. We understand. We are learning from different countries. It is good. We are using bicycles now. In past times, using a bicycle in Mexico was the most extreme sport ever. You would die on a bicycle. Today you can use your bicycle and it is a bit safer than before.

Is the urban environment of Mexico cities satisfactory for the people who live in it?

No. We always complain. We have a really good transportation system, but it is not planned to have as many people as possible. The metro system is great, but we are so many people that we need more transportation system. Not all of Mexico is interconnected because obviously the city grew and now there are no more connections to the outskirts of Mexico. That’s a real problem. Because, the bus stations that used to be on the periphery of the city are now inside the city. You would commute to the bus station if you weren’t in the city already and, now, to get inside the city for a bus station is crazy. The buses are coming from outside the city. The metro system, as I was explaining, is really good but it is insufficient. We need more public transportation.

The government builts a second layer of high way which is a terrible solution. Most countries are tearing down their second levels of high ways, because they are putting more infrastructures for public transportation. If you put new layers for private cars, people would buy more cars, and they would be stuck in traffic longer. We are doing things wrong, we are learning in the process, but it needs improvement. Mexico is a city where we are always putting out fires. There is always an emergency, because something is chaotic, something is not working and you have to fix it. And they fix it, but they don’t fix it for twenty, forty or fifty years. They fix it for the next five years and after five years we need to think how to solve it again. We are learning how to plan better. I hope that we will get more people in government that have a better sense of planning.

In recent years attention turns to green urban regeneration. Do you think that it is imperative for the city or it’s just a new fashion with economic outcomes and covertly interests?

I think it is green wash. I always make fun of it because I say that today the best architect would wear a green suit, with grass; and he would think that he will get more jobs, because he is a green architect. That’s an ethical and moral issue. You are supposed to be green because that is the way you are supposed to live your life. Not because it is a trend and not because you can make money of it. I am not interested in having my business card saying LEED CERTIFIED or my buildings, I don’t care. I want to do them because I feel good about them.

There is a lot of conscious architects in Mexico in most parts and there is a lot of fake architects saying that they are “really green”, so that they can have more jobs and more money. I’d rather stick to the part where sustainability is not only about the green part, but sustainability has to do with economical factors and it has to do with social factors. There are a lot of sustainable issues that they are more important to me than just having a green roof or having some plants on the façade of the building.

  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.