A reclaimed Mexico City masonry becomes a vaulted music school

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Mexico City | Mexico | 2023

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TO Arquitectura, a Mexican architectural studio, collaborated with the local community to construct a music school in Mexico City called the Kithara Music Kiosk. This 645-square foot (60-square meter) project, finished in March 2022, includes a vault constructed from recycled and donated masonry and is situated on an 860-square foot (80-square meter) corner lot in the Yuguelito neighborhood.

Yuguelito is situated in Iztapalapa, an area marked by elevated conflict levels stemming from issues like violence, impoverished soil conditions, and water scarcity. Positioned at the foothills of the Xaltocan Volcano, the community was devastated by an earthquake in 1985, reducing it to ruins. Over the past four decades, residents have been diligently addressing soil improvement for construction and have been striving to rebuild this residential area.

In 2015, the Kithara Project, a classical guitar education program headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, extended its reach to the region. They commenced providing free music lessons to the local community using one of the world's most beloved instruments, the guitar. In a heartwarming display of gratitude, community members contributed a small piece of land adjacent to the neighborhood library for the purpose of establishing a guitar classroom. Collaborating closely with the guitar students, TO Arquitectura organized a workshop to craft the architectural plans for a music school.

The resultant building is a rectangular space that is positioned diagonally on its lot, with its orientation directed toward the volcano and the intersection, rather than conforming to the street grid. This unique placement enables the building to open up to the surrounding views when it functions as a stage for neighborhood events. In the construction process, the team made use of recycled materials and received assistance from three local builders, who generously contributed their labor to the project. The pavilion-like vault, designed as an open-air space, is constructed using various types of donated masonry, such as red brick, cement blocks, volcanic stone, and a red stone known as tezontle.

This two-story vault structure acts as a protective covering for a wooden platform crafted from reclaimed lumber. A series of concrete stairs lead to a tiered arrangement of wooden bleachers, forming the classroom area.

The ground-floor area is illuminated and ventilated by doors located at both ends, and there are eclectic ceramic pendant lights hanging from above to add a unique visual touch. The blend of wood and masonry materials helps achieve "an acoustic equilibrium that balances sound absorption and reverberation," according to the studio.

Metal scuppers have been seamlessly integrated along the intersection of the vault and the wall to collect rainwater, which is then directed into a collection chamber and a small garden.

"Nowadays Kithara Music Kiosk has surpassed its intended uses, and the community has used it for making different events like theatre arts presentations, choir concerts and different types of social gatherings," the studio said.

"It has a personal space scale but it definitely resonates as a collective space."

Kithara Music Kiosk has been shortlisted in the small architecture project category of the Dezeen Awards 2023.