Tatiana Bilbao Estudio (ed.)

Landscape of Faith

Architectural Interventions along the Mexican Pilgrimage Route

Landscape of Faith is a documentation of the way architecture can increase the identity of a pilgrimage route and add layers of meaning that reach far beyond the religious. The book presents sculptural and infrastructural interventions – in constant dialogue with the landscape –, which are spread along a pilgrimage route in central-western Mexico. It takes the reader on a journey along the route and lets them experience the act of devotion, faith and gratitude.

Every year close to three million people trek from Ameca to Talpa de Allende to visit the site where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared. La Ruta del Peregrino stretches a distance of 117 kilometers through the vast and imposing mountain range of Jalisco. In 2008 nine architectural studios were invited to improve the route’s infrastructure by creating areas for people to rest and reflect. Each introduced landmark sparks a dialogue about sustainability and austerity, landscape and architecture.

All photographs are by Iwan Baan. The book features an essay on pilgrimage and architecture by Daniel Saldaña Paris. With projects by Ai Weiwei (FAKE Design), Luis Aldrete Arquitectos, Tatiana Bilbao Estudio, Christ & Gantenbein, Dellekamp Arquitectos, Alejandro Aravena (Elemental), Godoylab, HHF Architects and Rozana Montiel (periférica).

Landscape of Faith is a documentation of the way architecture can increase the identity of a pilgrimage route and add layers of meaning that reach far beyond the religious. The book presents sculptural and infrastructural interventions – in constant dialogue with the landscape –, which are spread along a pilgrimage route in central-western Mexico. It takes the reader on a journey along the route and lets them experience the act of devotion, faith and gratitude.

Every year close to three million people trek from Ameca to Talpa de Allende to visit the site where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared. La Ruta del Peregrino stretches a distance of 117 kilometers through the vast and imposing mountain range of Jalisco. In 2008 nine architectural studios were invited to improve the route’s infrastructure by creating areas for people to rest and reflect. Each introduced landmark sparks a dialogue about sustainability and austerity, landscape and architecture.

All photographs are by Iwan Baan. The book features an essay on pilgrimage and architecture by Daniel Saldaña Paris. With projects by Ai Weiwei (FAKE Design), Luis Aldrete Arquitectos, Tatiana Bilbao Estudio, Christ & Gantenbein, Dellekamp Arquitectos, Alejandro Aravena (Elemental), Godoylab, HHF Architects and Rozana Montiel (periférica).

Edited by Tatiana Bilbao Estudio

With photographs by Iwan Baan

With contributions by Verónica Gerber Bicecci, Daniel Saldaña París

Design: Integral Lars Müller

16,5 × 24 cm, 6 ½ × 9 ½ in

320 pages, 202 illustrations

paperback

2018, 978-3-03778-499-0, English
Spanish
CHF 24.00

Tatiana Bilbao

Tatiana Bilbao is a leading voice in contemporary architecture. She founded Tatiana Bilbao ESTUDIO, a Mexico City based architecture studio, in 2004 with the aim of integrating social values, collaboration and sensitive design approaches to architectural work. Among the studio’s architectural projects are the Culiacán Botanical Garden, the Pilgrimage Route in Jalisco, an institutional building on the UDEM campus, a research center of the Sea of Cortez, and a social housing prototype displayed at the 2015 Chicago Biennial. Bilbao holds a recurring teaching position at Yale University School of Architecture and has taught at Harvard University GSD, AA Association in London, Columbia University GSAPP, Rice University, University of Andrés Bello in Chile, and Peter Behrens School of Arts at HS Dusseldorf in Germany. She was born and grew up in Mexico City.

Iwan Baan

Photo Iwan Baan

Iwan Baan (*1975) is a Dutch architecture and documentary photographer based in Amsterdam. His photography focuses on the life of architecture and how people reappropriate their built environment to make it their own. Baan has worked with leading architects and architecture studios such as Rem Koolhaas/OMA, Herzog & de Meuron, SANAA, Zaha Hadid and Steven Holl, and his images regularly appear in national and international newspapers and magazines. He has authored or collaborated on many books and is the recipient of numerous awards including the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2012. Baan's work has been exhibited internationally, including a retrospective exhibition launched at the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein in 2023/2024.