Students and faculty from The Boston Architectural College (BAC) are building bridges to Mexico. A collaboration with the Centro Metropolitano de Arquitectura Sustentable (CMAS) in Mexico City has explored local and international work around Rising Tides and Resiliency in Boston and Lynn, Massachusetts; Mangrove Ecosystems in the Yucatan Shores; and the 400 year-old UNESCO World Heritage site, Padre Francisco Tembleque Aqueduct in Tulancingo, north of Mexico City (among others).
In celebration and recognition of the five-year BAC/CMAS international collaboration, a concurrent exhibition Because Of Water / A Causa Del Agua is being held in both cities. The exhibit shares projects affected by water and includes student and faculty projects that examine urban landscapes and cities shaped by politics, human density, lack of green areas, and climate change.
“Boston is flooding. Mexico City is sinking,” explained María Bellalta, dean of the BAC’s School of Landscape Architecture. “Territories vary: from low-lying or high and mountainous profiles. The sudden overabundance, scarcity, velocity, and force of water increasingly shapes our landscapes. The conditions are different as are the geographies. Even so, we experience one recognizable climate-culture since we are now bound because of water.”
http://the-bac.edu/experience-the-bac/news-and-events/events/bos-mex-because-of-water-exhibition
The public is invited to an Opening Reception to be held on Wednesday, Oct. 11th 6:00 – 8:00 pm at the BAC’s McCormick Gallery, 320 Newbury Street. A gallery talk by BAC Dean María Bellalta will be held at 7:00 pm. Also attending the reception will be Francisco Luna from Centro Metropolitano de Arquitectura Sustentable. The exhibition runs through November 12.
Visitors to each exhibit in Boston or Mexico City can view the other school’s gallery through virtual reality.
September’s devastating 7.1-magnitude earthquake in Mexico City resonates with the exhibition’s theme of continuing environmental challenges the world faces.
“This exhibition marks a new chapter of an international academic collaboration between the two institutions,” according to Bellalta. “It seeks to demonstrate the value of a cross-cultural exchange of ideas
and design approaches as a method of inquiry into environmental and urbanization issues affecting global communities today.”
Founded more than 125 years ago, The Boston Architectural College offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture, interior architecture, landscape architecture, and design studies. It also provides certificates in digital design and visualization and sustainable design. The BAC was the first architectural school to offer a NAAB-accredited online architecture.