While Cecil Rhodes dreamt of stringing together Britain’s African colonies with a train that traveled from Cairo to Cape Town, the governments of the American nations had the similar vision of strengthening ties across the New Continent; and although the endeavor would fall short of stretching tracks from Canada all the way down to Tierra del Fuego, it did see the Mexico of the Porfiriato bring the railway to the inaccessible states of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The city of Tapachula prospered thanks to this umbilical cord, hence the drama produced in 2005 by Hurricane Stan, which destroyed the network beyond repair and reconstruction. Formerly the gateway into the country from Guatemala, the station languished and was used as a garbage dump until a federal development plan was drawn up to reinstate it as a space at the service of the community.

Pursuing the same linear scheme of the old train tracks and at a constant pace, a light structure reinforced with tension elements accompanies a shed of shorts – sometimes roofed, sometimes not – under which sport playing courts, swings, and spots to linger in are installed. On both sides, parallel concrete screens serve as visible foundations and make it possible to build tiers and small ancillary spaces.