How Morelos’ CIVAC Linear Park turned urban decay into a sustainable community hub

Near the concern portion of Jiutepec, Morelos, successful an country that was erstwhile practically abandoned, stands the awesome CIVAC Linear Park. 

The municipality of Juitepec belongs to the Cuernavaca metropolitan country but has someway preserved portion of its affluent humanities and taste identity. It became peculiarly important successful the 1960s erstwhile it built 1 of the astir organized concern parks successful Mexico, known arsenic the Cuernavaca Valley Industrial City (CIVAC), which besides became a residential vicinity wrong Jiutepec. 

A presumption of the Cuernavaca Valley Industrial City concern parkland a fewer decades ago. It inactive hosts a Nissan works today, arsenic good arsenic different large facilities for GlaxoSmithKline and Unilever. (24 Morelos)

But implicit time, residential areas of the CIVAC vicinity adjacent the concern parkland turned abandoned and were perceived by residents arsenic dark, isolated and adjacent dangerous. Skateboarders, however, had turned the abandoned country into an informal skate park.

Revitalization came with the instauration of the CIVAC Linear Park. 

The task was initiated successful 2021 arsenic portion of the Urban Improvement Program (PMU 2021) of the Ministry of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development (SEDATU), which focuses connected municipality reconstruction successful susceptible areas. The plan was created by the renowned Mexican designer Rozana Montiel Saucedo, successful collaboration with Claudia Rodríguez, the coauthor of the project.

Today, the linear parkland connects 2 neighborhoods, enhancing mobility successful the area, and serves arsenic an integrated greenish abstraction for authorities offices, assemblage services and nonmigratory learning and recreation.

CIVAC Linear Park was conceived to renovate susceptible municipality areas portion fostering a consciousness of belonging and assemblage pride. It besides aimed to incorporated greenish spaces, honoring the area’s existing earthy spaces, and truthful 1 of the project’s main goals was to minimize the factual footprint and accommodate the plan to the earthy environment.

The effect features intriguing paths shaded by archetypal trees, achieving a unsocial equilibrium betwixt landscape, architecture and section materials.

Architect Rozana Montiel prioritized keeping arsenic galore of the archetypal trees connected the tract arsenic imaginable and opted to divided the park’s civic halfway into aggregate buildings to integrate the authorities offices into the existing earthy environment. (Rozana Montiel)

For example, the park’s civic halfway — location to authorities offices and a wide scope of municipal societal and assemblage services — was fragmented to acceptable into the clearings betwixt endemic trees implicit 50 years old, utilizing porches and platforms of Texcal chromatic and sand-colored pigmented concrete. Throughout the park, quality and architecture combine, and a bid of platforms, terraces and galleries link the buildings with courtyards, gardens and remainder areas, harmonizing them with the earthy environment.

“We recovered a ample fig of endemic trees successful the country that were implicit 50 years old. The situation was to incorporated each the existing trees into the design,” the task statement explains.

Stretching 1.15 km, the linear parkland is simply a continuous pathway that respects the existing vegetation portion expanding successful definite areas to incorporated sports facilities and playgrounds and reclaim antecedently hostile spaces.

It culminates successful a multipurpose circular forum built with Texcal chromatic steps, encouraging assemblage interaction. The fountain’s seasonal activation arsenic a nationalist excavation has stimulated section commerce, revitalized the surrounding country and provided a recreation alternate connected the hottest days. 

An all-community hub

The CIVAC Linear Park has go a fashionable gathering spot successful Morelos, acknowledgment to the civic analyzable containing spaces for a ceremonial hall, a archetypal assistance center, code therapy and intelligence attraction workshops and a children’s playground. The civic halfway includes a nationalist library, a cafeteria and lawsuit work areas. Outside, residents usage a purpose-built skate parkland for either practicing their skate moves oregon BMX freestyle cycling.

In the civic halfway library, the chiefly woody plan is aesthetically pleasing, featuring an entranceway filled with earthy light. The operation besides utilizes sand-colored pigmented concrete, creating a serene ambiance and serving arsenic a gateway to civilization for visitors. The skate parkland was built with sand-colored pigmented concrete.

Recognition

Since its opening successful 2022, thousands of visitors person frequented the CIVAC Linear Park, a testament to its popularity. The task has besides garnered attraction successful the architectural world, winning awards specified arsenic the ADUS LATAM 2023/2024 Award from the prestigious French Saint-Gobain foundation, which recognizes sustainable and innovative architecture. It besides received the Obras Cemex 2023 International Edition Award successful the Social Value class and was nominated by the National Biennial of Mexican Architecture (FCARM) successful the Landscape Architecture, Parks, and Squares class astatine the Biennial XVIII 2024. 

The civic halfway takes its sanction to heart, providing not lone authorities offices to residents but besides spaces cardinal to civic life, specified arsenic this library. (Sandra Perez Nieto/Simon Prize website)

Additionally, it has been nominated for the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize astatine the Illinois Institute of Technology, a biennial established to grant excellence successful built works of architecture crossed the Americas.

But possibly 1 of the top things astir the CIVAC Linear Park is however it seamlessly integrates governmental administrative offices with the beingness of the surrounding community. It serves arsenic a connector for mobility successful the metropolis portion creating a greenish oasis that respects and enhances the autochthonal environment. It is genuinely a root of beingness successful galore ways.