In 2017, we were invited to design a building with the premises that it should resemble an aquarium, simultaneously providing a new space of identity in the city, and representing the Sea of Cortez. We recalled Diego Rivera's mural "Man Controller of the Universe," where a man holds a machine with which he controls everything. We thought that an aquarium precisely symbolized our human belief that we can dominate and control the world through technology, when in reality, we are just a small part of it.To envision this building, we told ourselves a story: in the year 2289, we discovered a structure built in 2023 with no clear purpose. We knew that seawater flooded it in 2100 and receded by 2227. We also knew that since the water arrived, life stayed there thriving. When we arrived at this ruin from the future, we carved paths, created staircases, and opened possibilities to encounter a world that had taken over the space.The building had to achieve two main objectives: first, convey to those who enter it the idea that we are a part of nature, and second, make explicit the ways in which architecture can become a means to reintegrate ourselves into our own ecosystem, allowing us, as a species, to remain on this planet.This is a building that doesn't adhere to known typologies. It's a building that speaks of a past time but in the future. Its history was told a long time ago, but perhaps we can say it is yet to begin.
