Mexico’s IK Lab

Mexico’s IK Lab is a breathtaking interpretation of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Designed by museum owner Jorge Eduardo Neira Sterkel, a former painter with no architectural background, IK Lab features curved walls and sloping floors which alternate between carpets of curving jungle vines and polished cement. Upon entering, guests are asked to remove their shoes to get the full experience. Sterkel has warned visitors to pay attention to avoid falling, as the floor sometimes slopes unexpectedly. This experience of having no control and being forced to pay attention to your surroundings is humbling, says Sterkel, and makes people pay attention to what they feel emotionally and spiritually.

Like the Guggenheim, IK Lab features curving walls. And as the walls and roof are constructed of walls of vines reinforced by transparent fiberglass, light easily permeates the structure. IK Lab is also sustainable; no trees were cut and stilts were used to allow local wildlife to pass below. Museum director Santiago Rumney Guggenheim (who convinced Sterkel to turn the site into a museum) has referred to it as the counter-model of the standard gallery.