ReGrowth is a memorial, bamboo center, and housing project located in Colonia Obrera, Mexico City, where a factory and market once stood. The factory collapsed in the 2017 earthquake, killing over 15 workers. Like so many other such sites in the city, nothing remains but emptiness and trauma. ReGrowth proposes a bamboo forest memorial here - and in all other sites vacated by the earthquake. Bamboo across the city is then harvested annually and brought to the Bamboo Center. Here, bamboo is collected, treated, and sold as an affordable and sustainable building material. Additionally, the Bamboo Center also houses community workshops to educate the public on how to work with the material. Next to the memorial, a housing prototype for adaptable and expandable dwellings using bamboo is offered to Mexico City’s self-built culture. ReGrowth imagines a living, green memorial network that commemorates the tragedy of the earthquake across the city while seeding cultural, economic, and familial growth.
