Faro de Oriente is located in the Iztapalapa, one of the poorest areas of Mexico City, with almost 2 million inhabitants. An impressive building provides an alternative solution to conventional cultural intervention and is a combination of an art school, a cultural space, and a public plaza.

The peripheral community of the City of Nezahualcóyotl (“Neza”), the largest unplanned community in Mexico, becomes the paradigm of informal development. Since its inception in the 1950s, the city-suburb has grown into a 4,000 ha city with some 1.5million inhabitants. The architecture and urban space in Neza have no fixed image, they are constantly evolving. Neza has become a fully mature city with a level of social interaction, plurality, and spatial complexity.

Grupo Carso Ciudad Jardín Bicentenario: An area which was formerly a 10 million ton wasteland adjacent to the Xochiaca border will be transformed into a social and economic asset enabling further urban development of “Neza”. The USD 160 million project will house 67.5 ha of sport facilities, create more than 5,000 jobs, generate 3,000 kw of electricity, 5 million liters of recycled water, and self-finance maintenance through the sale of methane gas produced by the waste disposal. 

The Tlatelolco Housing Project represents the most extreme example of addressing Mexico City’s housing problem during the 20th century by modern architecture and urban planning. The repetitive and abstract character of the buildings together with the sheer scale of the development, contributed to the disenchantment with the project not too long after it was finished.