Mexico + Schweiz

Film från S AM i Basel:
Architects Tatiana Bilbao, Fernando Romero and Michel Rojkind in Mexico City. Two other performers on this scene are the young practices Dellekamp Arquitectos and at103.
The three Swiss architecture practices Buchner Bründler, Christ & Gantenbein and HHF Architekten are organizing a discussion evening with their Mexican colleagues, hoping to find out what parallels and what contradictions there are between architectural production in the two countries.
The starting point for the friendly relationship between the Swiss practices and their Mexican counterparts was the Jinhua Architecture Park (2003) project, initiated by Herzog & de Meuron and the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, in which five of the eight practices involved this evening were able to construct a pavilion. This amicable link led to casual co-operation over a three year period. The economic reality of building in Mexico City is largely dominated by large groups of developers. What does this mean for the architects? Where does the architect stand between artistic demands and pragmatic service provision? What and whom do young architects relate to in New Mexico, where, unlike Switzerland, no previous generation has smoothed the way?