"The Mexican Roof", built as an architectural signal for an organisation promoting sustainable agriculture, is one of the few examples where a very ambitious project, conceived in the architecture design studio at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, has been successfully translated into reality. Executed by the students themselves in a remote province in Mexico it is basically a roof made out of bamboo that shelters the new community from the sun and collects water, the basis of any kind of growth. It is a conspicuous landmark that also serves very practical functions. The book presents the building process in Mexico starting with the finished roof and going back in time as well, an index that lists the various notions of the conceptual work in Vienna. Special attention is given to a specific method of teaching that encourages students to go for their visions, even if difficult, by providing methods, experience and determination necessary to solve the problems associated with this endeavour.
From the contents: Contributions: 96 13 W/16 33 N (Wolf D. Prix).-
Immutable Velocity (Raimund Abraham).- Critical Assessment (Alejandro D
Acosta).- Shells - Development and Tendencies (Klaus Bollinger).- Treading
the Borderline. The Idea was to Create a Lure (Barbel Muller).- No Excess
Baggage (Reiner Zettl).- What is the Instituto Tonantzin Tlalli? (Cesar Lopez
Negrete)
WOLF D. PRIX. Studied at the Technical University, Vienna, the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles and the Architectural Association in London, England. Founder member in 1968 of the architectural office Coop Himmelb(l)au; head of the Studio a3, School of Architecture, University of Applied Arts Vienna.
