From Atlas Periférico by Maite García-Lascurain
Maite García-Lascurain
Supervisor
Abstract
Atlas Periférico
An attempt to define an edge of Mexico City
Atlas Periférico is a practice-led investigation into the shifting edges of Mexico City, asking how the periphery of a metropolis that appears to have no discernible end might be observed, documented and understood. The research develops from an urban expedition undertaken along the 84-kilometre long Anillo Periférico, Mexico City’s orbital road. It adopts a performative mode of investigation that stems from a deliberate anti-velocity: because to walk a space that does not want to be walked is, in itself, an act of rebellion, allowing for a critical and meticulous observation of what might otherwise remain hidden by the speed imposed by its infrastructure. The road serves as both frame and quiet protagonist through which the city can be observed, acting as the starting point for a broader reflection on the peculiarities and absurdities of Mexico City, and on what its particular conditions might contribute to a wider urban discourse. Once conceived as the city’s boundary, the Periférico has long since been absorbed by a relentless expansion. It now cuts through successive layers of former peripheries, revealing the edge not as a fixed geographical line but as a diffuse, temporal and continually renegotiated condition. Atlas Periférico examines these territories as records of urban transformation. Rather than treating their apparent disorder as a deviation, the project asks what can be learned from their specific spatial conditions. The resulting atlas will operate simultaneously as a critical chronicle of Mexico City’s present and a speculative framework for imagining alternative futures: seeking not to ‘resolve’ the edge, but to make it visible, legible and understood as a territory that is profoundly fertile for further architectural inquiry.
Bio
Maite García-Lascurain is a Mexican architectural designer, educator and researcher trained at the Architectural Association (AA School) in London. In 2024, she established her eponymous practice, Taller MGL , which emerged from a dual condition, embodied in its symbol ° ° : two coordinates, two poles, and an ongoing conversation between them. On the one hand, Mexico and London, two cultural contexts that shape her approach to observation and design. On the other, practice and academia, understood as separate disciplines that continuously question and enrich one another. She enjoys making buildings with a strong spatial and material sensibility, grounded in context and guided by a rigorous attention to process. She has taught architecture in both Mexico and the UK, as a studio tutor at Universidad Iberoamericana, a visiting lecturer at CENTRO, and as Programme Head of the AA Summer School in Latin America. She was a fellow of Jóvenes Creadores, a programme of Mexico’s System of Support for Cultural Creation and Projects (SACPC), with Crónicas Periféricas, an investigation into Mexico City through its 84-kilometre orbital road. The project forms the foundation of Atlas Periférico, her current practice-led doctoral research.
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