+ 3

In 2011, an improvement plan for the Historic Center of Mexico City for the years 2011–2016 was presented to UNESCO. Conceived as a joint initiative between civil society, private investment, and the government, the project led to the revitalization of a large part of the historic center and the social and physical recovery of many of the neighborhood's properties.

Mexico City's architectural legacy extends far beyond its Historic Center, and while the initial plan greatly benefited this area, many buildings both inside and outside Colonia Centro remain untouched. Following the 2017 earthquake, damaged buildings joined the growing list of properties already abandoned, vacant, or severely deteriorated throughout the city.

Among these, we highlight those whose rehabilitation and subsequent adaptive reuse would have the greatest impact on their surroundings, given their symbolic, architectural, and physical value.

Javier Reverte once said that "the adventure of travel consists of being able to experience the daily lives of other people in places far from your home as an extraordinary event." It is precisely within those extraordinary events that, upon arriving in a new country, we undergo an adaptation process that transforms the extraordinary into the everyday. Whether you share a language with your host country or face an unfamiliar tongue, the first few months are a crash course in absorbing countless new concepts—from discovering you can buy cigarettes at pharmacies to distinguishing the distinct calls of trucks selling tacos, tamales, or sweet potatoes. We learn new terms to define daily life, while simultaneously relearning familiar words that take on entirely new meanings.