m²: 4000
Location: Shanghai, China
Type: Competition
Year: 2009

World Expositions have become redundant and their pavilions have lost the capacity to communicate purpose to the point that they appear as empty architectural masterpieces. With this premise, our mission in this competition was crystal clear: to create a Pavilion charged with meaning that portrays and criticizes Mexicos situation in a globalized world in crisis.

Mexico, like many third world countries, has seen its economy overturned by the new superpower China has become. Not being able to compete with its ridiculously low manufacturing costs, many small and large companies have gone out of business. Its almost cynical for China to host the 2010 World Exposition after it has wrecked the economies of most of the countries that will take part in it. Our pavilion is a caricature of the historical moment Mexico is battling to overcome. To accomplish this, we made a parody of the national symbol, a serpent curled up inside a cactus waiting to be devoured by the new eagle of capitalism: China.