Mexican architect designs skyscraper — below ground

Architect Emelio Barjau makes it sound like the most natural thing in the world: Since rules forbid building on the Zocalo, Mexico City’s vast central square, the cleverest alternative is to dig deep and build an inverted skyscraper far below the earth.

It’s called an Earthscraper, a 65-storey pyramid that tips out 300 metres below the surface. So far, it’s only an idea — there are no plans to build — but one that is creating a buzz around the world.

What do you do with a sprawling space that is largely unoccupied — it’s mostly used for demonstrations, national festivals and concerts — but also carries historical and emotional weight?

“There is so much power in that square, where every public demonstration takes place,” says Barjau, on the phone from Mexico City, where he is director of design for BNKR Arquitectura. “We analyzed the possibility of building on top and it was not possible.”

(The origin of the company’s name is rooted in the earth, too. Its founder, 33-year-old Esteban Suarez, started the firm in 2005 in the basement of a downtown building.)

The challenge was to design a project for a space that was, on the surface, untouchable.

Some of Mexico’s most important national buildings — its cathedral, museum and palace — border the 57,000-square-metre plaza, one of the biggest in the world. The site is drenched in history and beneath it is archeological treasure. The Aztecs built their pyramids there, on a marshy island on Lake Texcoco. As their empire grew, they erected their great city, Tenochtitlán, on top of the older pyramids. The Spanish conquerors razed those landmarks to create the colonial city that still exists.

“Every time there is an excavation, they find something hidden in the layers. When we want to do something new, they will find something to stop the excavation, so almost every development turns into a museum — it doesn’t matter what was planned for.”

Excavation stops until artifacts are properly registered, then work continues, Barjau says. But, as this plan is without precedent, new regulations might have to be developed.

Nothing can be built higher than eight storeys and no higher than the cathedral. To do so, says Barjau, would be disrespectful to Mexico’s sense of identity and to the site itself.

“The idea of building something on it would be rejected by the public. When you are there you feel Mexican. Not to sound corny, but it is the heart of the people.”

The idea of the Earthscraper is to bring new activities to the area; the building will have retail space, apartments, offices and, yes, another museum displaying the very artifacts unearthed in the excavation. The surface of the plaza would be covered with glass allowing strollers to peer down into the structure’s vast atrium.

BNKR’s staff is young; most are in their 20s and early 30s. They enter competitions to become better known internationally. The Earthscraper was entered in the annual skyscraper competition sponsored by the architectural journal eVolo. It didn’t win in 2009 but was among the finalists.

“It was publicized then, but like any other project it went to sleep,” says Barjau.

But a recent magazine article on Mexican architecture renewed interest in the plan and BNKR has had inquiries from China, Russia and Korea, as well as Mexico City’s urban development department. “The project is really hot again. We were surprised,” says Barjau.

Of course there are problems to be solved. Mexico City, a metropolis of 19 million, is sinking and is in an active earthquake zone. Further study is needed before the project goes any further.

As Barjau reminds, Earthscraper is an “idea.”



/The Star/