Between uniform concrete whales and greepians of nature that rebel before the asphalt ocean a floating structure composed of a kind of links perfectly devised to link two points that, until February 2023, seemed impossible to connect. This is the Floating roada pedestrian and cyclist bridge that unifies the first and second section of the Chapultepec forest and that is part of the megaproject «Chapultepec: Nature and Culture»one of the priority proposals of the federal government and the government of Mexico City, which seeks Recover and interconnect the entire Chapultepec forest through social, cultural and environmental initiatives.
With a length of 436 meters, the floating road starts in Molino del Rey and extends to the Avenue of the Composers. It was designed to incorporate the existing flora and maintain the feeling of walking with the forest, even going through the peripheral.Secretariat of Works and Services of the CDMX / Ministry of Culture / Courtesy of the artist
As it is an environmental recovery proposal that comprehensively incorporates the architectural, urban, political and cultural restoration, for Gabriel Orozco, contemporary artist and coordinator of the project master plan, it was essential to create spaces that not only united the four sections of the green lung of the capital, but allowed to improve the accessibility and visibility of the various areas resulting from the master plan. In this line Orozco designed the Floating roada structure that goes from the roundabout of loyalty, located in front of the aqueduct of Santa Fe (Molino del Rey), to what will be Aztlán, amusement park where the fair was located. This exercise that blurs the borders between urban planning, architecture and art flies between the peripheral ring and its second floor, while protecting the existing vegetation and incorporates it as a landscape element during the route. However, the road also offers an unexpected optics of one of the less attractive scenarios in Mexico City; poetically, juxtaposes the previously existing structures with the design of Orozco, to conceive unexpected atmospheres: Shadow and rest spaces under the second floor and postcard views of the most chaotic roads of the city.