t. +52 811 690 9710
m. ana-k09@hotmail.com / ana.k.ruelas@gmail.com
l. Monterrey, Mexico
2025
/ Intervention
Rambla Tabacalera
The intervention for the Rambla Tabacalera was looking to rehabilitate four streets that led a very important path from Mexico City: it connected the Revolution Monument to the Mexico Tenochtitlan Av. One of the most important and used avenues in the city.
In between this intervention, there is a garden next to the National Museum of San Carlos, which we also wanted to activate, due to its direct connection to the museum and it's huge potential to become part of a focal point of our project.
These four streets had a lot of potential to create unity and more than just a pathway, an experience that can be very simple yet meaningful. That's when we decided to begin sketching based on elements as simple as a line and a point.
/ Awards or recognitions
2024 Participation Contest Sketchlust
2025 Participation Bienal CANL Temporal Pavilions
/ Location
Mexico City, Mexico
/ Collaborators
Francisco Canche
Miyoko Yesaki
Ana Karen Ruelas
The line is drawn as the central axis of the project, running from end to end, suggesting the idea of a route. This linear path is conceived as the starting point for introducing landscaping and gradually extending the garden to the rest of the public space. A light pergola is used to reduce the scale to pedestrian levels and allow vegetation to cover it over time, shading the entire route.
The point functions as a space for pause and gathering for each block. This space includes pavilions, commercial kiosks, services, or any facility that facilitates encounters between residents and visitors, fulfilling potential recreational and/or cultural needs.
Each block incorporates both elements, which are modified and adjusted according to the specific circumstances of each space. Every point and line is defined by its immediate context: garden, housing, businesses, road crossings, and the museum.
Site Plan & Main Section
We noticed the existing buildings worked well and most of them were patrimony, meanwhile we saw an oportunity to not only create shadow but a subtle intervention were we respect the existing vegetation and emphasize the greenery surrounded in the city.
The intention behind was to not only invite and activate the garden, but to take the garden to the street. Starting with the existing fountain, we started developing radius to respect a certain geometry provoked by the fountain itself.
After that development, the pergola started molding between the geometry and existing elements on site, creating interesting curves that followed a certain order and that made space for benches and connection spaces.
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Pergola Detail
The lightness of the pergola, besides reducing the wide urban passage to a pedestrian scale, is a canvas for the vegetation that will gradually cover it, creating a partially covered pedestrian rhythm, with variations of light and shadow.
semi-permeable cover formed by steel cables tensiones to side frames.
flattened steel plate side frames
vertical supports of double tubular metal profile embedded in a lower plate in the floor
pedestrian sidewalk
climbing plant
urban lighting
metal plate embedded to the floor
bike path
Garden Plan
The Garden Tabacalero is being redesigned while respecting the site's significant elements, emphasizing the preservation of the trees and the central fountain. In addition, part of the existing pergola is being incorporated to provide continuity to the landscaped path along the promenade.
Around the perimeter of the Garden, islands with urban furniture are being created to encourage social gatherings, as well as a central plaza space for public events.
Finally, a water channel is located along the central axis, culminating in the redesigned fountain, surrounded by a reflecting pool at pavement level.
All these elements are designed to foster a more sensory and community-oriented experience.
Public tables
Redesign of fountain
Water canal
Bench
Plaza to reunite
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T02
T03
T04
Additional Lot Intervention
The developed lot, with street-level retail and residential units on the upper levels, is integrated into their immediate surroundings through diverse facade treatments. The arrangement of the buildings creates a sense of openness within the urban fabric, taking into account potential spaces for gathering and transition.
The design responds to the need to create new residential spaces that foster a synergy between private interior spaces and public areas, in conjunction with the master plan.
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1 Comercial level
6 Levels of housing
T02
1 Comercial level
3 Levels of housing
T03
2 Comercial levels
Amenities on rooftop
T04
8 Levels of housing
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