At Design Week Mexico, a Museum of Immortality springs to life
![Museum of Immortality](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/BHpVm9s8HcVg24vHCFc99Z-415-80.jpg)
October has arrived and with it comes Mexico City’s annual Design Week. It's accompanied by a new pavilion by architects Nikolaus Hirsch and Michel Müller of Studio MC, set within the Tamayo Museum’s contemporary arts gardens in the heart of Chapultepec Park. Called ‘Museum of Immortality’, the work is part of the pair’s ongoing interest in and research on museums, and particularly on the relation between objects and people.
Every year during Design Week Mexico, the museum opens its gardens to celebrate creativity and this year it was the Frankfurt-based duo’s turn to be invited to build their proposal for an eight metre-tall pavilion, exploring the concept of death through architecture. The structure’s circular geometry poetically leads the eye towards the sky, while its overall form is something of a hybrid of minaret, mausoleum and modern-day space capsule.
The team was inspired by the philosophical world of Boris Groys, who developed the concept of the Museum of Immortality as a metaphysical space dedicated to permanence and resurrection for both humans and objects; an immortal space for everyone and everything. The architects’ earliest investigations into the theme included a namesake exhibition in Beirut, curated by artist and E-flux co-founder Anton Vidokle.
The Tamayo pavilion is an abstract prototype, a speculative large-scale model featuring steel and Plexiglas elements that evokes display boxes typically used in exhibitions. It can be experienced as a standalone focus within the park, or as an extension of the museum. Nearby, a video by Vidokle and Oleksiy Radynski explores the project’s theoretical premises.
With the Museum of Immortality, Design Week Mexico opens a discussion on key issues of art, architecture and the urban realm; a fitting theme as Mexico City heads towards becoming World Design Capital in 2018.
The structure is part of the capital's annual celebrations for Design Week Mexico
Made out of steel and Plexiglas elements, the pavilion is an exploration into concepts of death and immortality
The project is also the product of the architects' ongoing research into the world of museums and the relationship of man and object; the Plexiglas elements, for example, were designed to evoke gallery display cases
INFORMATION
For more information visit the Studio MC website and Design Week Mexico’s website
Photography: Alberto Jurtega
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
-
Feel at home at Auberge, Château La Coste's new inn for culture lovers
Auberge La Coste sits at the heart of the art-filled estate, minutes away from the joyful town of Aix-en-Provence
By Harriet Thorpe Published
-
This Nova Lima apartment is a Brazilian family oasis with striking Minas Gerais views
A Nova Lima apartment designed by Jacobsen Arquitetura celebrates its long, natural Minas Gerais vistas
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Commune’s sustainable personal care products look ‘quite unlike anything else’
Commune’s Somerset-made products stand out in the sustainable skincare crowd. Madeleine Rothery speaks with the brand’s co-founders Kate Neal and Rémi Paringaux
By Madeleine Rothery Published
-
Step inside Quinto Sol house, a verdant oasis in Mexico's Pacific Coast
Quinto Sol house by architect Cristina Grappin blends indoors and outdoors in a masterful architectural composition in the Mexican countryside
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Lucha Libre and modernist architecture meet in Mexican short film ‘El Luchador’
‘El Luchador’ blends Lucha Libre and architecture, in a Mexican short film set in Agustín Hernández Navarro's modernist home Casa Praxis in Mexico City
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Mexico’s Amelia Tulum is where ‘the architecture becomes part of the jungle’
Amelia Tulum by Sordo Madaleno combines a human-centred approach and lots of greenery to craft a Mexican residential community like no other
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Scenic Garden offers architectural pavilions and a new green lung for Mexico City
Scenic Garden, designed by Michan Architecture and a team of collaborators, adds green infrastructure to Mexico City's bustling urban experience
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
A Cancun retreat by Mexico’s Vieyra Estudio takes inspiration ‘from the ocean’
Casa Nube, a new Cancun retreat by Vieyra Estudio, merges sea, style and sustainability in a private residence defined by a series of pools and terraces
By Léa Teuscher Published
-
Antonio Solá offers a residential haven of calm in Mexico City
Antonio Solá, a new housing project by architecture studio Módica Ledezma, is a complex of four townhouses that offer serenity in the bustle of Mexico City
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
A Mexican artist’s studio makes the most of light and volume in San Miguel Chapultepec
A Mexican artist's studio and home, designed by JJRR in the heart of Mexico City, makes the most of volume and light for its owner, Stefan Brüggemann
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Pabellón de la Reserva and its sustainable architecture nod to its natural setting
Pabellón de la Reserva by architecture studio Hemaa offers an idyllic countryside getaway, a stone's throw from Mexico City
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated