El Salitre Community Center, located in the town of Zapotlanejo, in the Jalisco province, is the proposal to serve a rural farming community which has seen the social and economic impact of migration to united states.

Seeking to maximize the economic and ecological impact, the materials available in the area were used: artisan clay brick produced in El Salitre, steel, pigmented concrete finishes and local labor. In the structure, a mixed system was used, the ground floor is resolved in
reinforced concrete, the upper floor in metal structure and handmade slabs of Catalan vault, system originating in the region. Obtaining an architectural language that fuses technical and artisan processes, combining the vernacular response to promote sustainable design,
allowing to create belonging in the rural context, creating a link between the public and the community center.

On the lower level, two commercial spaces (currently occupied by a grain and fertilizer business and a restaurant serving traditional Mexican fare) made of reinforced concrete lay the foundation for the community centre — offering a means by which to sustain the public space financially. The cavernous space stands in contrast to the upper floor, whose steel structure, painted a warm terracotta tone, allows the room to be considerably more open. Equipped with foldable walls made of recycled wood panels, the multi-purpose area can be divided into two distinct spaces, allowing various groups to use it simultaneously — for activities as diverse as health brigades, sewing workshops, dance classes, community parties and meetings. On the roof there is a space open to the landscape where meals and community meetings will be held mainly.

A conceptual meeting point,

The project assumes the construction of the building as a collective activity and understands construction as a participatory experimental process, achieving efficiency based on decisions such as the adaptation of local materials to the design and the midpoint between the technical and craft processes that come together in the architectural work.

The Community Center was idealized as the meeting point that requires the direct participation of the inhabitants from its conception, construction and its future operation. To achieve this goal, a circular communication process activated by the exchange of perspectives and participation was incorporated. Prior to the development of the project, a series of workshops were held where community leaders, farmers, women, children and even teachers contributed ideas to define the project's architectural program. In this way, the building ceases to be a material work to become a place of social character and collective action.

By involving the inhabitants in the process of the work, it turns out to be an integrating building, where architecture and community, the industrial and the artisanal, the scientific and the technical, are reconciled. The community center emanates warmth towards the street, it is a promise for the saltpeter community.