Productive Rural School was project-
managed, designed and self-built
by students in Tepetzintán with
the objective of reviving traditional
knowledge, utilizing local production
chains and preventing young people
from migrating.If you talk about a collabora-
tive approach towards archi-
tecture, what do you think
the role and responsibility of
an architect should entail?
MOG: We believe that the main objective
of our role as architects is to demonstrate
that architecture is a social, living, dynamic
and open activity in which it’s necessary to
recognize people as ‘subjects of action’ and
not as ‘objects of intervention’. It implies
abandoning the idea of ‘author’ to meet the
role of facilitator, mediator and technical advi-
sor. People should always be at the centre of
the project and the decision making process.
JAC: We view architecture as a
tool that can help improve people’s quality of
life, as long as it is carried out in an inclusive
way. We understand our profession as a
service that should be available to everyone,
regardless of the social, economic and
cultural context.
What does Mexico’s economic
context mean for your work?
MOG: Without doubt, the economic aspect
is one of the factors that makes young people
move away from participatory architecture.
The first question we get when speaking at
conferences is: How do you pay your rent and
personal expenses? Even though there’s a lot
of interest in developing community-centred
practises, there are only few economic strate-
gies to do so. In addition, this work is often
confused with volunteering or humanitarian
labour, free of charge. This way of thinking
demonstrates a lot of ignorance and classism.
It’s assumed that professionals only work on
such social projects for charity, not to tackle
a complex professional challenge that
deserves to be a full-time job.
JAC: Public policy does not
finance participatory community projects
because they go against the logic of govern-
ment programmes, which only seek to
increase the popularity of politicians through
short-term results. Social processes that could
trigger major changes and could be measured
through qualitative indicators in the medium-
to-long term are disregarded financially.So how do you finance
socially orientated
architecture projects?
MOG: Private parties, too, unfortunately find
very few economic, fiscal and social incentives
to engage in the wellbeing of rural communi-
ties in a committed way. However, there are
some companies that seek to have a positive
social impact through donations and knowl-
edge transfer. Novaceramic and Rotoplas,
for instance, with which we collaborated on
projects in Sierra Norte de Puebla.
JAC: The projects we work on
contemplate the economic context and have
autonomy as their main objective. Proposals
build on local knowledge, traditional trades,
local materials and construction systems
that trigger production chains. The funding
process always begins in the communities.
Contributions vary from providing local
materials or labour to economic contribu-
tions and lodging and food. In addition, we
carry out funding campaigns, workshops and
conferences to support the projects.Can you give an example?
MOG: The Rural Productive School. Studentsfrom the community of the rural Mexican
village Tepetzintan came up with this concept
during a series of participatory design work-
shops. Besides restoring traditional trades and
techniques, they were interested in setting
up culturally appropriate education to avoid
the migration of young people and reduce
disintegration of families in the communities.
The local youth proposed an educational
space dedicated to generating productive
workshops that will enable them to have local
jobs and thus prevent migration to cities. The
school was completely self-built, using local
materials such as bamboo and stone.
JAC: Nowadays more women
attend. They carry out workshops for the pro-
duction of organic gardens and biofertilizers,
and the conservation of traditional embroi-
dery. Also, students have been able to develop
local crafts through technical construction
workshops with bamboo, furniture, carpentry
and blacksmithing. In addition, adult women
are receiving training to produce jams and
traditional medicine from local plants, which
is generating an income for families.At the World Architecture
Festival in Amsterdam, the
jury of the Emerging Designer
award cited your fight against
a political lobby that is vastly
supportive of replicable,
commercial housing develop-
ment over housing seen as a
human right. Can you explain?
MOG: The Political Constitution of our
country recognizes housing as a right of
all Mexicans. However, this is far from the
national reality. In the 1980s, with the »34 In Practice