XXXXIX. Mexico City, Mexico
Mexico City, Mexico
Mexico City, Mexico — Patrick Wilton
Mexico City, Mexico
Mexico City (also known as the Federal District) is the capital city of Mexico, and, as it expands through the metro area into the State of Mexico, is the 6th largest metro area in the world. It is one of very few cities that does not lie along a major body of water or river, instead relying heavily on road transportation. The city is subdivided into 16 delegaciones (boroughs).
Population:
Urban: 9,209,944 people
Metro: 22,505,315 people
Area:
Urban: 1,485 sq km
Metro: 7,866 sq km
Population Density:
Urban Average: 6,202 people/sq km
Metro Average: 2,861 people/sq km
Politics:
Mexico City (Federal District), houses the seat of the national government. Because of this, the city’s government is structured very similar to that of the federal government (i.e. federal repubulic with three branches: Presidency, Congress, and Courts). The 16 boroughs within this area have some administrative powers shared amongst them, with others more centralized via the president’s residence Los Pinos. Beyond the Federal District, the greater metro area of Mexico City contains 20+ municipios (counties) which are self-governing and located within the State of Mexico.
TYPOLOGY STUDY
Mexico City, Mexico: High-Density Building Typologies
Mexico City, Mexico: Urban Void Typologies
The following three neighborhood analyses stem from an interest in studying various different means of utilizing street space.
Hipódromo is a mid-upper class hippy town which has very unique street layouts, varied widths, and an extremely dense presence of greenery at the street. Tepito utilizes massive portions of the streetscape for the Tianguis (open-air street market) which occupies 25 streets, and most residents make their living off of it. Narvarte Oriente has a generally wide range of housing typologies (mid-rise apartment, low-rise townhomes, shop houses), and multiple large public parks with adjoining lush streets which branch outward and connect the neighborhood in each direction.Sources:
1. ARCGis Pro Base Map
2. https://cadmapper.com/
3. http://www.cuauhtemoc.cdmx.gob.mx/paginas.php?id=entorno
4. https://www.google.com/maps
1. Hipódromo, Cuauhtémoc
Area: 0.25 km2
Population Density: ~20,000 people/km2
2. Narvarte Oriente, Benito Juarez
Area: 0.25 km2
Population Density: 16,000 people/km2
3. Tepito, Cuauhtémoc
Area: 0.25 km2
Population Density: 38,000-120,000 people/km2 (estimated)
TIANGUIS VERTICAL
Tianguis Vertical is a low-income housing project in the neighborhood of Tepito located in Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City, MX. Tepito has two very distinct characteristics. First, it is the home of a large-scale Tianguis (open-air street market) which completely floods the main streets of the neighborhood throughout most of the week. Most residents within this neighborhood live here in order to be able to buy and sell goods within this market, with many additional residents commuting from adjacent neighborhoods to participate. Second, Tepito is known for having a social structure which mimicks that of the informally developed neighborhoods on the southern edge of the city (colonias populares). Tepito is largely self-governed through the use of informal housing typologies and communal voting systems, and generally operates under its own authority.
This project attempts to expand upon these characteristics of Tepito, along with the historical success of vecindades which converted 19th century mansions with courtyards into low-income housing spaces with shared amenities in the courtyard. The massing of the project consists of an eight-story ring of dwellings surrounding a courtyard from top-to-bottom. Main circulation routes and shared amenities populate this void space, and the exterior skin consists of balcony slabs with a structural framework able to be informally and independently built upon, enabling residents to expand their unit outwards in a similar fashion to colonias populares which are often built with exposed rebar on top to allow vertical expansion. Additionally, along the main circulation route is a series of large void spaces which vertically extend the Tianguis. Last, the southeast corner of the top floor of the project contains a culminatory park for both residents and the public to enjoy after shopping in the Tianguis.
