Escobedo Soliz Studio has been announced the winner of MoMA PS1’s 17th annual Young Architects Program and will have its project constructed within the museum’s famous courtyard this spring. The young, experimental practice — founded in 2011 by Lazbent Pavel Escobedo and Andres Solíz — specializes in explorations of materials and construction techniques, demographic research and integration of the community into the design process.
The firm describes its winning project, entitled Weaving the Courtyard, as “neither an object nor a sculpture standing in the courtyard, but a series of simple, powerful actions that generate new and different atmospheres.” The installation will include a wading pool in which visitors can cool off during the hot summer months, while shade will be provided by a “woven cloud” of brightly colored threads, fanning out from the holes created by formwork ties in the gallery’s concrete walls.
Weaving the Courtyard effectively creates a new “sky and landscape” within the walls of the courtyard, transforming the space into an ephemeral world of color, water, light and shade. The vibrant colors of the canopy evoke the bold aesthetics of the firm’s Mexican heritage while also providing a joyful setting for this summer’s Warm Up series of concerts, traditionally held within the space each year.
Further works by Escobedo Soliz Studio include Mextrópoli, a concept design for a public pavilion that comprises a triangulated bamboo frame wrapped by a translucent textile membrane. Meanwhile, the firm has released beautiful renderings and model photographs for a proposed chapel in Zoh-Laguna, Mexico, for which it is currently seeking investment. The design, intended to replace the village community’s deteriorating timber chapel, incorporates a rich palette of vernacular materials — many of which would be recycled from the existing building.
Mextrópoli
Zoh-Laguna Chapel
For more information on and images of Escobedo Soliz Studio’s current projects, check out its brand-new firm profile on Architizer.