Annik Keoseyan 
Arquitecta
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THE EGG & THE SERPENT
Typology: Intervention
Collaboration: Escobedo Soliz
Location: Mexico City
Date: 2020

The Egg and the Serpent is a collaborative project with Escobedo Soliz for the ECO 2020 pavilion.

The project aims to create a single action capable of transforming the interior dynamics of the courtyard. To achieve this, the yellow wall is encircled by a metal ellipse.

This ellipse is bent to ensure its stability within the courtyard and perforated to allow wind to pass through. The existing walls seem to vanish, and a new microclimate is cultivated within the ellipse—a space where the yellow wall and the sky are highlighted.

DESCRIPTION︎︎︎

The initial ideas were inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s film, which alludes to the dangers hidden within seemingly harmless systems that can harbor great evils. The depletion of natural resources, rising temperatures, and water scarcity are realities we face, threatening nature in alarming ways. The pavilion reflects on the challenges we must confront in the future—challenges that can still be mitigated if we foster continuous awareness.

By engaging the senses—touch, sight, and sound—the pavilion creates a space full of surprises and abstractions of natural elements, aiming to provoke curiosity and concern about the impending changes that will impact our daily lives. The pavilion is not only a generator of experiences and journeys but also an exploration of plasticity, structure, and expression, inviting the discovery of diverse atmospheres.

The design emphasizes two main protagonists: the yellow wall and the sky, both elevated to essential symbols of the space. The yellow wall, now framed by the ellipse, becomes a central focus, interacting with the play of light and shadow throughout the day. Meanwhile, the sky, visible through the open frame, integrates into the space as a dynamic canvas, reminding us of nature’s fluidity and transience.

This project also establishes a dialogue between the constructed and the ethereal—between the rigidity of metal and the softness of the air passing through it. The microclimate created within the ellipse not only alters spatial perception but also physical sensations, generating an intimate and sensory atmosphere that contrasts with the monumentality of the surrounding courtyard.