Mexico City. The emblematic building, almost a hundred years old, which housed the Department of Health and Hygiene and later was the headquarters of the Ministry of Health (Ssa), will become the National Center for Health and Wellbeing Cultures, Kalan, a free public space that seeks to redefine the perception of health, to see it from the philosophy of care and not only from the biological and biomedical part.
The recovery process, which began in October 2023, is 90 percent complete and will be inaugurated on Sunday, September 29 by the Secretary of Health, Jorge Alcocer Varela, since despite the move of the Ssa to the city of Acapulco, Guerrero, the building is still under the care of this secretariat. It is estimated that public access will be a month later, already with the new administration.
During a tour of the facilities of the building built in 1929, the director of the National Council of Humanities, Sciences and Technologies (Conahcyt), María Elena Álvarez-Buylla, reported that 300 million pesos were invested in its restoration and that it will have more than 20 spaces – exhibition halls, immersive rooms and open-air forums – which will be free of charge.
He highlighted the Mexican Art Deco beauty of the building, designed by architect Carlos Obregón Santacilia, and so the first task of the restoration was to free up space, since, as it was a building used for administrative purposes, the adaptations for offices with bathrooms and private kitchenettes hid the original characteristics of the place, in addition to the fact that a third of it was used for parking.
Among the restorations carried out were 77 doors and 120 original wooden windows, 235 original window frames, 10,251 square meters of quarry stone surface. In addition, walls were rebuilt and others were added to further strengthen the structure.
Importance of care
The word Kalan means “care” in the peninsular Mayan language. It seeks to promote physical, mental and social well-being of health seen beyond the biomedical and biological, that is, from the community because “health is influenced by nested conditions that range from the closest affections and ties, such as family relationships and communities that are important for care” said the director of Conahcyt.
The objective of the Center is focused on prevention to save lives, with topics of healthy eating, physical and mental health. He highlighted that one of the immersive rooms has to do with mental health, a priority issue in the face of the stress and anxiety that predominate in the population; the room will be an Observatory of Serenity (also called the Lullaby Room, in which the individual will learn breathing and relaxation techniques, since the intention is to “take care of the mind.”
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– 2024-09-23 21:41:55
