Utopia Ballena Rosada
In the heart of Coyoacán, a historic neighborhood in Mexico City, El Parián looms like a beached whale — vast, out of place, out of scale, and lingering in a state of limbo in a dried-up land far from the ocean. Once a shopping mall, then a bank, its brief lifespans have given way to two decades of abandonment, leaving it a site of ghost stories and unease among the community. But we see an opportunity to transform El Parián’s decay into renewal. By cracking open and eating into this massive structure, we aim to let light, air, and life flow through its spaces once more, turning what was once a haunting ground into a vibrant environment of care and community.
El Parian is reimagined as the site for the new Utopia Ballena Rosada, a residential and community complex which breaks down the building’s massive scale. Through dividing the building into smaller blocks and allowing pedestrian streets to pass through, a multiplicity of activities—from health care support to recreation—can happen within one building.