The Mexican architect Luis Aldrete designed an adaptive module for public shelter buildings along the traditional La Ruta del Peregrino pilgrimage.
The design aims to provide temporary shelter to pilgrims who embark on a pilgrimage during holy week each year: Approximately two million people walk La Ruta del Peregrino through the Jalisco mountains over a distance of 117 kilometers - starting in the town of Ameca and ending in the town of Talpa de Allende - to meet the Virgin of Talpa.
Luis Aldrete’s designed the temporary public building shelter as a series of basic modules that can be multiplied to create additional shelter space if needed and that allow to adapt the building to site conditions.
The perimeter of a building module is formed out a lattice of adobe, one of the predominant materials of the region. Thereby the shelter is well adjusted to the region's subtropic climate. In addition the building’s atmosphere reflects the play of light and shadows created by the oak leaves covering the roofs of the local buildings and visually blends in its surroundings.
Aldrete’s pilgrim shelters are part of a municipal project that invited artists and architects to contribute installations and project along La Ruta del Peregrino in order to provide the historical route with better conditions for pilgrims as well as to maximize the social and economical profit for the area by taking advantage of this massive event.
Among the artists and architects invited were Ai Wei Wei, Christ & Gantenbein, Dellekamp Architects, Elemental, Godoylab, HHF, Omar Orlaineta, Periferica, Tatiana Bilbao and Toa.
