GARDEN CITY MEGA CITY

GARDEN CITY MEGA CITY: The Urban Ecosystems of WOHA opens at the Museum of the City of Mexico
February 14th 2017 (Mexico City) – Singapore-based architects WOHA announce their first exhibition in Latin America, GARDEN CITY MEGA CITY: Ecosistemas Urbanos de WOHA, opening at the Museum of the City of Mexico on March 12 2017. The architecture of WOHA introduces biodiversity and lively public spaces to overcrowded megacities with climate sensitive design and vertical urban strategies. The architects showcase experimental prototypes for responding to climate change vulnerability and social challenges in the rapidly urbanizing tropics.
The multimedia exhibit presents over two decades of WOHA’s award-winning international design. Sixteen intricate architectural models illustrate design strategies for a three-dimensional city; projected skywards to relieve urban congestion. An immersive video installation propels visitors on an experiential journey through WOHA’s towering garden cities, which appear as oases of green in dialogue with the dense urban fabric of Singapore. Drawings and large scale photography are supported by interviews with residents and stakeholders, who explain how WOHA’s “high-density high-amenity” design can improve their everyday life.
WOHA design their buildings as “cities within cities” that redefine architectural scale for the megalopolis. The exhibition introduces “Macro Architecture Micro Urbanism” to Mexico City — the largest metropolitan agglomeration in the Americas — as a novel way to look at holistic design at different scales. Despite the scale of their urban habitats, WOHA utilize clever design strategies to domesticate the mega structures. Sky villages and verdant parks form intimate and attractive public spaces across multiple ground levels; a breathing architecture of porous facades and lush vertical landscapes ensures comfortable habitats for all city dwellers — humans and wildlife alike.
WOHA have already shifted urban paradigms in Asia and see similarities in climate and the expanding megacities in Latin America. With this exhibition they begin a dialogue on the applicability of their architectural strategies to the region, sharing their typologies as ideas for architects, designers, and engineers, as well as developers and investors — all those concerned with the future of the Latin American city.
GARDEN CITY MEGA CITY is part of the Mextrópoli International Festival of Architecture and Urbanism (11 – 14 March 2017). An opening reception will be held Sunday, March 12 at 1:00 pm at the Museum of the City of Mexico (Museo de la Ciudad de Mexico), 30 Pino Suarez Street, Mexico City. The exhibition will run until April 16 2017.