Guerrilla architecture updates Mexico City

Sánchez not only pioneered a new housing type and mortgage category; he designed a communal space in the heart of the building - a shared staircase and circulation corridor. This interior patio has an additional benefit. With security a major issue in Mexico City, most residential housing is guarded and gated, but Sánchez envisioned a dwelling that does not resemble a fortress. "To have an open courtyard protected by its own inhabitants makes it safe," he says. The residents have become friends and the patio a space for parties.

"By tiny steps, these buildings propose new forms of making urban life better," says Mr. Castillo. "When the state is not able to provide infrastructure and required services, architects must develop strategies to meet the needs of citizens."

Since regulations and zoning are ambiguous in Mexico City, and coordination and planning nearly nonexistent, "these architects don't feel the limits traditional architects have," says Pamela Puchalski, deputy director of the Center for Architecture.

In the exhibition's explanatory text, Jorge Gamboa de Buen, former director of planning in Mexico City, compares these entrepreneurial architects to "social liberators" like Subcommandante Marcos.

Mauricio Rocha, an architect devoted to public works, is another pioneer in Mexico City. With an extremely tight time frame (three months from design to finished construction) and an ultralow budget, he designed a 65-stall market for one of the poorest districts in the city. Knowing the project would be erected by the lowest bidder with incentive to cut costs, Rocha designed the stalls without frills or detailing. The concrete-block stalls are monochromatic cells, animated by the sounds and colors of Mexican life. Stocked with fruits, vegetables, and squawking chickens, the market provides a civic space in an area formerly devoid of amenities.

Projects for the private sector can evince more flair. Michel Rojkind and Derek Dellekamp transformed an old villa in the San Angel residential area into a corporate office for the Falcon company.

Although the idea of blending old and new is rather novel in the city, the architects surrounded the walls of the original house with amber-colored, translucent panels with a honeycomb effect. In between the original walls and the new periphery is a cactus and agave garden, into which golden light pours.

This "expanded practice" model may have relevance to other megacities around the globe. The Center for Architecture, operated by the American Institute of Architects' New York chapter, will hold a symposium May 4, 5, and 7 to examine issues raised by the exhibition. "How to address through architectural practice issues of the environment, traffic, population density, and social injustice is relevant anywhere," Castillo says.

Urban planning has always included an element of utopianism and the possibility of social transformation through the built environment. In Mexico City, architects transform obstacles into opportunities, thus incrementally changing one of the world's largest cities.

As Mr. Norten, the New York-based architect, puts it, "Different solutions emerge from different conditions."

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