Author: Lilián González-González

The human being constantly has desires and needs to satisfy, and is always in constant search to realize them; among them, the desire for happiness, security, recognition, self-realization, the desire to learn, affection, the desire for rest, among many others. In this article about the Boys and Girls Club, located in Ecatepec, State of Mexico, you can see how the construction and organization of the club favors the satisfaction of some basic needs and desires, which helps boys and girls in their self-realization and growth. The power that this has in the lives of these boys and girls is the seed of hope for a better future. This case shows how, through design, we can generate hope and design for peace.

Foto author courtesy: Jaime Navarro

Foto author courtesy: Jaime Navarro

The reflection is focused on discovering how architecture can help reduce the rates of violence in communities, on how from a space that helps to facilitate it, people can meet and organize to generate spaces, activities and interactions that benefit community and social and individual well-being. In this case it will be possible to observe how with architecture and design, both from the habitable aspect and from the teaching of design, we can transform and integrate various knowledge that improve the quality of life of people and in this case of childhood.

Foto author courtesy: Jaime Navarro

In the interview with Nadine Cedrone, President of the Boys and Girls Club located in Lomas de Tecamác, State of Mexico, Mexico. It was inaugurated 15 years ago and serves more than 350 boys and girls. The president comments that it is an international association in which the program was born 150 years ago in the United States under the name of «boys and girls club», later it spread to Mexico starting with Tijuana where the rates of violence against children was increasing to great speed and later spread throughout the Mexican Republic to help children in areas of violence and high risk in their communities

The club is a safe and healthy space within an architecture that helps foster and facilitate creativity, innovation, and the physical and intellectual development of children and young people between the ages of 6 and 18. Its focus is to promote personal development with art, sports, human development and academic development. In the club they help children find their talents and develop them so that they can be agents of change in their community and continue their education. We can also highlight that they have currently incorporated robotics design workshops and arts and crafts such as carpentry, in which they have already won some contests and design products to sell and help their families. This model of the foundation is replicable and works as a franchise so that more people can open more centers with its methodology and vision.

The Ecatepec club has three main buildings: the educational building, the arts building, and a large gym. The three buildings are linked by a large corridor that represents the idea of ​​education as the backbone of the development of society: it is made up of 24 arches that represent each of the human vertebrae. http://www.cnyn.org

Foto author courtesy: Jaime Navarro

The architectural space is very singular and was designed by the team of architects CCA (Center for Architectural Collaboration, made up of the architects:

Bernardo Quinzaños, Mauricio García, Tania Coronado, Ana Laura Ochoa, Sebastián Gnaedig.

The space has received various international awards for the design of the space: Honorable Mention in the «Utopia» contest, Arch Days CDMX. Mexico City, Mexico, 2018.

– Honorable Mention in the «Young Architects in Latin America» ​​contest, XVI International Architecture Exhibition of Venice. Venice, Italy, 2018.

– Honorable mention in the «Education» category, Fourth Architecture Biennial of Mexico City. Mexico City, 2019

– «Work of the Year 2019» Award in the «Urban Equipment» category from Obras Magazine. Mexico City, 2019.

– «Design Icons» Award, Architectural Digest, in the «Public Architecture» category. Mexico City, 2019.

– «Design Icons» Award, Architectural Digest, in the «Public Architecture» category. Mexico City, 2019.