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Architects: MA Estudio
- Area: 300 m²
- Year: 2022
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Lead Architects: Alberto Esponda, Mayra Flores
Text description provided by the architects. Tarasana is situated within the Yelapa community, nestled amidst the lush jungle and alongside Mexico's western Sierra Madre mountains. As a holistic hub, Tarasana offers versatile amenities, including options for natural childbirth in water or on a bed. Additionally, it operates as a healing center that accommodates diverse activities. The project proposal aims to establish a comprehensive environment where babies, women, and men can reconnect with their inherent nature and the world around them. Inspired by Mathias Goeritz's Manifesto of Emotional Architecture, which advocates for elevating human spirituality through architectural design, the goal is to rescue architecture from its current state of purely material functionality.
Central to this endeavor is creating spaces that evoke a sense of security and well-being akin to the maternal womb. These spaces are intended for childbirth and nurturing the bond between parent and child, including the involvement of fathers. The overarching concept is to craft environments that harmonize with the human body, reminiscent of the womb, not as a regression but as a means of reconciliation. Named Centro TARSANA, this adaptable facility serves as a sanctuary for both physical and spiritual healing, while also fostering opportunities for diverse activities.
Conceptualization and prototype. Based on the principles of bionics, derived from the Greek words bios (life) and ikos (unity), which encapsulate the concept of creating artificial constructs based on living systems, the term was first introduced by Jack E. Steele in 1958.
Bionics strives to develop functionalities and forms that mimic the behavior of living organisms, achieved through meticulous observation, in-depth research, analysis, and synthesis. Rather than mere replication, bionics posits that any model can offer novel ideas for designing methods tailored to specific contexts and users. An exemplary instance is Paolo Soleri's urban system, Arcology (a blend of Architecture and Ecology), inspired by the cellular distribution in organisms (Jaivier Senosian, bioarchitecture, 2017, "In search of a space," p. 18).
The structure and form of TARASANA are based on the archetype of the Toroid, characterized by an energy pattern resembling a doughnut—a continuous surface with a central opening. This energy dynamic sustains itself in a primary pattern, with energy flowing through one end, circulating the center, and exiting through the other side.
In the toroid, principles of Sacred Geometry such as the Great Void, the Law of Unity, the Law of Duality, and mathematical pillars like Phi, Pi, and Euler are found ( Psychogeometry 2021 Article #10 "Human Toroids and their Functioning").
The function of cement, concrete, and steel in TARASANA embodies the convergence of seemingly irreconcilable opposites, akin to yin and yang, light and shadow, and feminine and masculine principles. Ferrocement, the precursor of reinforced concrete, offers high plasticity, enabling molding and sculpting. Its metallic skeleton directs vertical rods to a concentric ring, creating a monolithic form that aligns with the principles of the toroid. This ensures self-support, eliminating the need for independent vertical supports
