Mérida, Yucatán — Hailed by architecture critics, a modern colonnade contrasts strikingly with a neoclassical museum on the Paseo de Montejo. The new structure’s 36 slender columns support a thin concrete canopy that replaces tents for outdoor events at the La Quinta Montes Molina Pavilion.
The rear of the museum has been rented for weddings, fashion shows, and more recently, a luncheon for visiting Cuban President Raul Castro.
Designed by Mexico City studio Materia Arquitectonica, the modernist pavilion frames three sides of a paved courtyard at Montes Molina – a Porfiriato mansion today operating as a museum.
“The client sought a permanent structure to hold all kinds of scales of events and to enhance a more intimate relationship with the existing building,” said the studio, which is led by Mexican architect Gustavo Carmona and Puerto Rican architect Lisa Beltran, who spoke to Dezeen Magazine.
The columns took their inspiration from the trees that surround the property, they said.
The pavilion creates a U-shaped promenade, located at the base of a sweeping staircase with ornamental balustrades. It was built from white concrete, chosen for its similarity in color to the facade of the old house.
The canopy is topped by a steel structure that can be drawn across the roof to stabilize the structure in the event of a hurricane.
Another architecture site, Cool Hunter, while also praising the work, noted that the project was awarded the silver medal at the Architecture Biennale 2015 in the Culture category. Enlace Arquitectura and ArchDaily, two more prominent architecture sites, presented videos. Here is the clip from the latter:
PABELLON-QMM from onnis luque on Vimeo.
