The Mexican Gabriela Bojalil finds in the Palenque station of the Mayan Train an opportunity to highlight the culture and ecosystem of the region.
Gabriela Bojalil Rébora, who designed the Palenque station of the Mayan Train, has a broad career in the world of architecture, which includes projects such as the Torre Bicentenario, her work can be found in cities as diverse as Los Angeles, Beijing, Córdoba and Riga.
Gabriela, originally from Mexico City, graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at UNAM.
In an interview with Forbes Mexico He relates that this experience served as an inspiration for him to find the style that he would take with him abroad, “UNAM has a spectacular urban plan and these buildings that lift you from the plane and integrate you, for example, in large-scale murals that reflect part of the history of Mexico ”, he comments.
After completing her degree, Gabriela did a master’s degree in design at Harvard GSD, in the United States, after graduating with honors, she left for Holland with the intention of working for a short time, “the truth is that I was going to work for a month or two. , in summer, and I ended up staying ten years ”, declares the Mexican.
In these ten years Gabriela worked with the firms MVRDV, Wast 8 Urban Design and Architecture, and Office for Metropolitan Architecture. In 2009, she and her Dutch partner Paul Van Der Voort decided to return to Mexico to form their own firm with which they participated in the Mayan Train project.
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Teamwork
Gabriela and Paul decided to open their firm DAFDF Arquitectura y Urbanismo in Mexico City, which combines North American, Latin American and European references. Together they have developed various projects in states such as Tabasco, Morelos, Campeche and Aguascalientes.
Both jointly carried out the design that was won by the project of the Mayan Train station in Palenque, which intends to economically boost the Yucatan peninsula by connecting its large tourist centers and rural communities through a railway line divided into 7 sections, covering a total of approximately 1,554 km. Palenque station will be the starting point of Section 1.
“With all this about the Mayan train, I realize that architecture is also a cultural process: So it is incredible that in addition to making a building that is safe and functional, it is also a cultural and material expression.”
Gabriela Bojalil Rébora
Mayan Train Project
Gabriela and her firm were invited to participate in the contest to choose the design of the Palenque station and their project turned out to be the winner. “I think we have always had an interest in the southeast of the country. We had already done some projects looking at the issue of water and rivers in Tabasco. “
Gabriela comments that, to make their designs, they visited Palenque several times to study the climate, vegetation and culture of the region, as well as to live with the people of the area. “From that, we began to think about designs that were sustainable and adapted to the humid climate and the local production of the region.”
The architect comments that the bamboo, and the woods (produced by sustainable companies) that will be used in the station will be bought from local producers, as they are very busy materials in the region.
The Palenque station also has back gardens where the aim is to highlight the ecosystem of the area: “we imagine them as wet gardens that maintained their original natural sense and we are also treating endemic trees to integrate them into the urban part of the station.” Mentions Paul, co-director of DAFDF Arquitectura y Urbanismo.
The design was completed in just over a year, and its construction is scheduled to be completed in a year and a half. “We are part of the Mayan Train with pride and enthusiasm, because I believe that it is a large-scale territorial and regional planning project that can really stimulate the development of the region,” Gabriela Bojalil concludes with a smile.
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