Archiprix International 2001
Universidad Anahuac, Escuela de Arquitectura - Huixquilucan, Mexico
Blanco Bernal
David Gonzalez
Tutors: Arch. Maria Isabel, Tomas Quiroz, Dr Arch. Manuel Aguirre Osete, Arch. Cesar Leonardo Macin de la Morena, Arch. Enrique Juan Fernando Etchegaray Lastra
Retro Alice is an entertainment and amusement centre designed for the imagination. It is abstract and surrealist but yet thematic, due to the influence of Charles Dodgson’s 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Through the looking glass'. Alice is the child we all have within ourselves, the creative creature with no fear of criticism, who dares to take risks, search, discover, and create. We are the pawn trying to reach its goal on the other side of the chessboard, without realizing that our journey may be just as important as our goal. The project has a private and a public area, subdivided into the labyrinth/chessboard, the circus tower, and the commercial areas. The first section of the labyrinth represents the confusing image we have of a world without escape, but, as we advance through the maze, we realize that we actually do have an option and that we can clear objects from our path. As we discover the chessboard plaza, we recognize the iron sculptures that represent chess pieces: the king-sun, the queen-moon and Alice; we are the pawns. As we cross the plaza, we find ourselves before the circus tower, and as we enter the foyer we find the cybernetic garden with its virtual tree, from where we descend through the exterior and interior veils into Alice's world, into the three vertical spectator levels that represent the old-fashion three-ringed circus, a 360-degree theatre. Arriving at the main level of the circus tower, we find ourselves in the commercial area where we start to leave our unreal world behind. At the end of our pedestrian street is the virtual-reality centre, which leads us visually from one dimension to another and then again back to our unreal reality. When we have apparently finished our journey, it will still affect our minds - although we got of the 'floating circus', we will remember the Alice's world.