“Paseo de la Mujer” Memorial Park was conceptualized first as an idea by the Government of Monterrey and Philanthropists, Maria Elena Melo de Sada and “El Museo del Vidrio” (The Museum of Glass), as a response to the fact that in whole México, there was no place to remember the women that have been important in México´s History, from poets to rebels, from scientists to musicians.
Since the project would be made to honor the women of the country, only female renowned architects would be taken in consideration for the competition.
DLC Architects teamed up with Architect; Susana García Fuentes (partner of Serrano Arquitectos, a prized and renowned architecture Mexican firm) and won the competition.
The project is placed inside Monterrey’s most important park and green area called “Parque Fundidora”, close to a very important freeway and on a very steep natural slope that also served as a “natural” water drainage for the park.
The main idea was to “consolidate” the space creating a sort of “crater” to give the feeling of a more private space and a downward spiral to walk through it. The crater is “sectioned” by an axis that is formed from a “glass bridge” virtually dividing the park in two and also differentiating the types of vegetation, whereas the side of the park that is next to the freeway would be visualized more as a forest emphasizing the private quality of the park, and the other side would become a more “open” and “colored” space.
At first the “Glass Bridge” would be more of a “glass wall”, at least that was the main idea, the wall would serve also as a “canvas” to project the names of the famous Mexican women and also as a more “strong” division. The Park also considered a 50 meters tall sculpture as a destination for the “glass bridge” and also as an “urban signage” for the park.
The most important intention for the project was the ability to discover the park, having multiple options to do it, serving also as a reminder of the more beautiful and complex mind every women poses.
Another important feature that is not entirely of the landscape architecture process was that the park would be build from donations from a trust that was formed specifically for the project. External economical crisis in México have forced the project to be constructed very slowly and seven years later, the project is still under construction, without a real completion date.
dlc_paseo de la mujer bridge detail view 01
