Mexico City: The Latest Architecture and News

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Held annually since 1998, the Arquine International Architecture Competition explores important and relevant topics for society as a whole, creating a space for dialogue and promoting active participation of both national and international architects. It has become one of the best architecture ideas competitions, with over 400 teams from more than 21 countries participating last year.

This year, Arquine is asking: What could be the vocation of the [future, ex] International Airport Benito Juarez of Mexico City? Following the announcement that Mexico City’s new international airport will be constructed in Texcoco, this competition aims to generate proposals for the [future] urban zone. Comprised of a total of 746 acres, the area has the potential to become a catalyst for development and growth of the eastern part of one of the most complex and populated cities in the world.

Determining the future use of the space now occupied by the International Airport Benito Juarez in Mexico City is one of the most interesting urban development challenges worldwide. The public competition offers a way to dig into the potential use of the area and explore the possibility of creating a large green area in the eastern part of Mexico City.

Arquine’s second annual International Architecture and Latin American City festival, MEXTRÓPOLI, will take place from March 6-10, 2015 in Mexico City. To encourage citizen participation, the festival will be broken down into six parts: listening, dialogue, observation, taking action, participation and celebration.

MEXTRÓPOLI aims to convert Mexico City into a pioneering city, making it an architectural reference for the continent. The festival also serves as an important cultural project for the city, encouraging urban regeneration and promoting Mexico city’s artistic heritage.

I always book a window seat when flying into Mexico City. It guarantees exposing the traveler to the exhilarating immensity of the city and the valley that barely contains it: a blunt encounter of geometry and geography indeed. Braving traffic I arrive to my hotel in the historic center and the first morning, over breakfast and with those aerial images still fresh in my mind, I invariably marvel at the fact that I have just had a hot shower and that I am enjoying, as usual, excellent huevos rancheros. "How did these eggs get here?" I wonder. The thoughts quickly dissipate as one is engulfed by the many renowned attractions of Mexico City.

Felipe Correa and Carlos Garciavelez Alfaro have chosen not to be distracted. Their book, “Between Geometry and Geography: Mexico City”, is an ambitious portrait of Mexico City that avoids reading the city through the singularities of its monuments. They have produced instead a stunning graphic biography of the metropolis, focusing on the infrastructures that have shaped the city and make it function today and speculating on opportunities for future multifunctional infrastructures.

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JAHN and ADG have released designs for Los Diablos Rojos del Mexico’s new home stadium in Mexico City. Scheduled to open in the city’s Magdalena Mixhuca sports complex in 2017, the 13000-seat “Estadio Diablos” will feature a “monumental lightweight” roof structure that resembles Diablos’ trident.

“Indicative of the sky, the roof design is sharp, translucent, luminous and dynamic,” says JAHN. “Composed of lightweight steel wrapped in PTFE textile material, the roof will become an iconic symbol for the great City of Mexico.”

More on the stadium’s design, after the break. 

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Videos

Every two years Audi hosts the Audi Urban Future Award (AUFA), which challenges cities from different parts of the world to investigate future mobility trends and come up with innovative solutions. This year AUFA selected Mexico City, Boston, Berlin and Seoul to participate in the challenge and respond to the question: how will data shape mobility in the megacities of the future? These four groups were asked to create a vision for how their city could use data in a strategic way, taking into consideration innovative energy solutions, sustainability, feasibility and the potential for their ideas to be implemented in other cities.

Mexico City’s team took home first place with their “operative system for urban mobility,” which centered around a data platform that cities can use to structure their urban traffic planning. Their system was also based around the idea that citizens themselves can become “data donors” and use the system to make informed decisions on how they move about the city. The team was comprised of architect and urbanist José Castillo, researcher Carlos Gershenson and the city government’s experimental lab “Laboratorio para la Ciudad.”

Learn more about the winning project after the break. 

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CEMEX has announced both the international and national winners of the XXIII Building Awards, which aim to recognize the best architecture and construction both internationally and within Mexico. All projects were reviewed by a panel of judges comprised of some of the most important and prestigious representatives of the industry at an international level.

The international awards recognizing housing, institutional/industrial and large-scale infrastructure projects that were built during 2013 and stand out for their constructive solutions, aesthetics and innovative techniques. Finalist projects ranged from Frank Gehry’s Biomuseo in Panama to Plan B Arquitectos’ Click Clack Hotel in Bogotá, Colombia, covering a range of countries and architectural styles.

The CEMEX Building Award is itself a unique piece of art created by Mexican sculptor Miguel Angel Gonzalez and made out of black marble and concrete.

Read on after the break for both the international and national winners…

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With more than 7 billion people now alive, the greatest population growth over the last century has occurred in urban areas. Now, a new series of interactive maps entitled "The Age of Megacities" and developed by software company ESRI allows us to visualize these dramatic effects and see just how this growth has shaped the geography of 10 of the world’s 28 megacities. Defined as areas with continuous urban development of over 10 million people, the number of megacities in the world is expected to increase, and while Tokyo still tops the list as the world’s largest megacity, other cities throughout Asia are quickly catching up. Find out more after the break.