Monterrey Tec campus in Mexico City, a new model of higher education

Monterrey Tec, with its extraordinary and continuously expanding influence across the spectrum of Mexican education and society, is poised to become a leader in stimulating urban and economic regeneration, showcasing the power of Latin American universities as engines of innovation and entrepreneurship. Following the tragic and devastating 2017 earthquake, the Tec tasked Sasaki to rebuild and expand its Mexico City campus, and reimagine a new model of higher education. A multi-helix approach to creating an "innovation ecosystem" in the district set a new paradigm for how a university can reinforce connections between academia, industry, and government, where the community and larger society are more involved in and benefit from innovation activities and urban regeneration.

The Tec’s strategic location along a subway line in Mexico City and its proximity to the largest, yet landlocked medical treatment and research cluster in Latin America, is the ideal setting for the university to fulfill its mission of transforming its urban context. Adjacent to the campus and on land owned by the university, a new innovation district allows allied industries to be co-located with the Tec. An interconnected open space network consisting of shaded sidewalks, bike lanes and a large public urban park provides the neighborhood with fields, playgrounds and gathering places. The district also boasts a dynamic mixed-use program of research, workplace, housing, an Innovation Hub, a magnet high school and other community amenities that support livability and a healthy lifestyle.

Sustainability and resilience were an integral part of the design process, harnessing how the university can help minimize resource depletion and confront climate change. Water sensitive strategies ensure the capture and reuse of rainwater across the landscape of both the campus and adjacent district. The plan also carefully preserves and integrates existing trees on site, becoming a major driver of the location of public spaces and buildings while maintaining high levels of biodiversity. Following the university’s larger decarbonization efforts, a district-wide approach to reducing energy demands informed building orientation to reduce solar heat gain, as well as the integration of photovoltaic panels and green roofs on all new structures.

The Master Plan for the Tec’s Mexico City Campus captures our ambition to rethink the relationship of the university to the surrounding urban setting; to make a new kind of contribution to the city, and to the country as a whole, and to rethink the nature of higher education in Mexico. In the academic core, the plan creates a unified learning environment that encourages project-based learning and interdisciplinary collaboration. New academic buildings break down silos between departments and promote engagement between departments, such as the Medical and Engineering Schools, that leverage the proximity of the Tec with the neighboring medical cluster. A focus on health and wellness is translated into a new state of the art recreation center located in a new campus gateway, that serves both the university and surrounding community, and integrates amenities such as a community clinic and nutrition center. Student housing, cultural facilities, hotel and shared workplace/office uses underpin a holistic learning environment. The introduction of a new innovation district in an area with privileged access to public transit provides an opportunity for surrounding industries to collaborate with the Tec. The plan’s proposed network of shaded sidewalks, bike lanes and public spaces will reduce vehicular trips and foster healthy living and a strong sense of community and social integration.

Now being implemented, the resulting plan is an inspiring vision that fosters collaboration and entrepreneurship, facilitates the rapid growth of research partnerships and stimulates engaged learning, all while re-engaging the university with its neighborhood and the larger Mexico City with an integrated, sustainable design approach.

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As one of the largest and most significant global metropolises, Mexico City will play a key role in the transformation of Monterrey Tec as a research-driven institution.

Sasaki

The campus is located in Tlálpan, a diverse area along the No.1 Line of Mexico City’s subway system, where housing, commercial and educational institutions coexist with Latin America's largest medical district. This area was significantly impacted by the

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The plan creates a new paradigm for how a Latin American university can reinforce connections between academia, industry, and government, with a multi-helix approach to the innovation economy, where the community and larger society are more involved in, a

Sasaki

Following the tragic and devastating 2017 earthquake, Tec leadership embarked on a journey to reinvent itself as a learning and research hub while re-engaging with its neighborhood and larger metropolis. Through strategic acquisitions, it almost doubled i

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The plan establishes an interconnected landscape network that connects all the Tec landholdings through a park-like spine, tying together the academic core, a new mixed-use innovation district and the university’s outdoor recreation fields.

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Adjacent to the academic core and on land owned by the university, a new innovation district provides a platform for allied industries to be co-located with the Tec. A large public urban park provides the neighborhood with much needed outdoor recreation s

Sasaki

The public urban park is complemented by an interconnected open space network consisting of shaded sidewalks, bike lanes, and gathering places that promote serendipitous encounters between the researchers, students, faculty, residents and the larger commu

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The urban design framework opens up to the surrounding neighborhoods, promoting wellness, engagement and social integration, while ensuring new development is fully accessible and welcoming to the community.

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The framework leverages connections to the subway and surrounding neighborhoods, with a range of uses that include housing, a high-school, community facilities, an innovation hub and spaces for allied industries to be located in close proximity to the Tec

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The academic core becomes a dynamic center for engaged learning, and is complemented by student housing, a hotel and conference center, and a partnership tower for allied industries and incubators. The Wellness Hub, located at the edge of the campus, crea

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The new campus gateway is framed by the Medical School and Wellness Hub. The hub includes a community clinic where medical students provide services and workshops for free to surrounding neighborhoods, helping advance the Tec’s social agenda.

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The vertical stacking of wellness programs creates a health-centered dynamic hub for both the university as well as the surrounding district. Its location on the edge of the campus facilitates access to the outside community and sends a clear message of t

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The concept plan sees both the campus and district as a single organism, leveraging different programs to encourage collaboration and engagement as an integrated ecosystem of learning and innovation.

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Within the academic core, new buildings are the physical manifestation of the university’s groundbreaking Tec21 pedagogical model, where collaborative, project-based learning blurs the boundaries between traditional disciplines and encourages much greater

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Integrated sustainability strategies create a campus that is energy efficient and positions the Tec as a leader in resilient campus design.

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The overarching concept for the Tec’s Mexico City campus and district is based on the idea that strong connections between academia, industry and community is the foundation of a successful and dynamic innovation ecosystem.

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The connections between academia, industry and community are supported by a robust public realm network that benefits the entire district and city.

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An interconnected public realm network extends beyond the boundaries of the site and draws the community into the new innovation district.

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A range of passive and active sustainability strategies are integrated into the plan to reduce energy demand and provide a comfortable microclimate that encourages walking and biking.

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The landscape framework promotes biodiversity and district-scale water conservation measures. Bioswales and stormwater capture basins reduce the risk of flooding in peak events.

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The new urban park is a civic contribution to the city and is a dynamic environment for social interactions, outdoor recreation and community engagement.

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A range of uses complement the innovation ecosystem, such as housing, a high school, daycare, community centers and recreational amenities. Direct connections to public transit ensure these amenities are accessible to the larger Mexico City metropolitan a

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The fine grain integration of program and landscape, education and innovation, creates a livable, sustainable new model of development and urban regeneration in Mexico City.

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At Sasaki, we believe defining the future of place must be a collective, contextual, and values-driven exercise. We all have a stake in this work.

For seventy years, Sasaki has brought together the best of architecture, interior design, planning and urban design, space planning, landscape architecture, and civil engineering to shape the places in which we live. Out of our Boston, Denver, New York and Shanghai offices we are defining the contours of place and redefining what’s possible along the way. Today, we are a diverse practice of over 300 professionals who share a singular passion for creating authentic, equitable, and inspiring places.

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