In 1954, the Scop Center It was inaugurated by two key figures of Mexican politics at that time: on the one hand, Adolfo Ruíz Cortineswho, given the criticism for his age at the time of being elected president (I was about to turn 63) had expressed «they chose me for president, not for stallion.» On the other, Carlos Lazoa young architect who, in his professional career overwhelming, already had integrated projects such as the University City, the icon of the government of Miguel Alemán Valdés. Both concretized with The Scop Center a part of Mexico's modernizing project which consisted, mainly, in creating new bureaucratic spaces that also decentralized the federal power itself that was limited to the historic center.
Although its initial project had a different purpose, The Scop Center accommodated an architectural program rich in functionalist details that integrated it as a true inhabiting machineLE Corbusian style. We tell you the details of a space that managed to combine in its area, the plastic integration that was sought by many architects of the time. What was it? This was the Scop Center in the Narvarte neighborhood of the CDMX.
SCOP center model after the change of architectural program, for hospital use to government offices.Carlos Lazo Fund, General Archive of the Nation
The hospital that was not
Originally, the project carried out by the architects Augusto Pérez Palacios, Raúl Cacho and Carlos Lazo himself, It would house a specialty hospital for the Mexican Social Security Institute. However, the lack of resources caused that in 1953 the work would be completely stopped and another destination for the building that had already begun to be built was sought. The project was offered to the Ministry of Communications and Public Works, who transferred their main offices to the new enclosure. Before that, the Secretariat was in the magnificent Porfirian building designed by Silvio Conti on Tacuba Street, in the Historic Center, where the National Art Museum is currently located.
At the end of 1953, the project was modified for its new use and a few months later, Inaugurated with hype and saucer To accommodate a dependency that had not only the great communication projects that connected Mexico with the world, but also the urban and architectural projects that transformed, little by little, the country into a modern and industrialized one. The Ministry of Communications and Public Works had been in charge The creation of a new mobility dynamics for the city which already integrated not only the railroad, but roads and avenues, as well as new colonies and neighborhoods.
José Chávez Morado reviews the placement of each part of its murals for the Scop CenterCarlos Lazo Fund, General Archive of the Nation
The phases of drawing, assembly and placement of parts for murals will be the same technique that will be used for relocation.Carlos Lazo Fund, General Archive of the Nation
A plastic integration project
From the forties, several architects and artists saw as a necessity, The creation of spaces that will integrate not only architecture and landscape, but also, to the plastic arts as part of the same program and architectural language. In that sense, a clear example is the work of Carlos Mérida in the Urban Ensemble President Juárezdesigned by Mario Pani, where the artist took care of the decoration of the stairs modules to create a dynamic with its inhabitants.