UH INFONAVIT Santa Fe transforms a neglected river-edge parcel in western Mexico City into a continuous public park structured by a circular multipurpose building, terraced paths, and a roof-level court. The project navigates a six-meter level change, legacy drainage failures, and mature tree stands to assemble a compact civic program within a landscape-first framework.
UH INFONAVIT Santa Fe Technical Information
- Architects1-6: AMASA Estudio
- Location: Santa Fe, Mexico City, Mexico
- Gross Area: 230 m2 | 2,476 Sq. Ft.
- Project Years: 2024 – 2025
- Photographs: © Zaickz Moz, © Gerardo Reyes Bustamante
A circular volume set at the site’s center adapts to the slope, preserves the trees, and turns a fragmented ravine into a continuous, spiraling park where architecture and public space intertwine.
– AMASA Estudio
UH INFONAVIT Santa Fe Photographs
Context and Site Challenges
The intervention occupies a triangular residual plot on the southern edge of the INFONAVIT Santa Fe housing complex. Buildings here were sited over a ravine with steep gradients, and the project area sits between two streets at dissimilar elevations with a six-meter drop to an adjacent public sports center. Years of disuse left a deteriorated basketball court on unstable fill, compromised drainage, and a sequence of blind edges that diminished perceived safety.
Rather than treat the parcel as leftover infrastructure, the project reframes it as an urban hinge. Paths, platforms, and the roof court negotiate the level difference between local streets and the lower sports grounds, stitching formerly disconnected edges into a legible public sequence. Visibility improves by eliminating deep corners, and circulation is drawn through the site instead of around it.
The brief concentrates on community uses within a compact footprint to preserve ground and vegetation. A multipurpose hall of 230 square meters anchors the program, complemented by rehabilitated children’s play areas, a calisthenics zone, and the restored court. The architectural response is calibrated to topography and hydrology first, with built volumes placed to enable continuous open space rather than overwhelm it.
Circular Form and Spatial Continuity
A centrally placed circular building minimizes edge conditions that would otherwise produce blind corners on a tight triangular lot. The geometry reduces the contact between volume and boundary, keeping views open across the site and allowing mature trees to remain. The round plan also fits the required area without forcing the building into the parcel’s vertices, which would have disrupted movement and visibility.
Terraced platforms spiral around the cylinder, establishing a continuous ascent from the lower entrance to the multipurpose hall and up to the roof court. Multiple points of access let users enter at different elevations, aligning movement with the neighborhood’s sloped streets. The roof court meets the upper street level directly, turning the building into a vertical connector that doubles as a structure and civic podium.
By reading architecture and landscape as one loop, the project encourages intuitive wayfinding and passive surveillance. Paths wrap the volume, activities disperse along the terraces, and visual corridors are maintained across the site. The resultant figure is less an object in a park than a topographic instrument that choreographs everyday routines.
Landscape Preservation and Hydrology
Building placement and grading were adjusted to protect eucalyptus, pine, and colorín trees discovered on site. The scheme was shifted to avoid sensitive root zones, particularly for the colorín specimens, so that no removals were required. Seasonal change is allowed to register in the landscape, with the deciduous cycle of the colorín trees shaping the park’s appearance over the year.
Two absorption wells sit at natural flow lines where runoff concentrates, capturing and filtering surface water before it destabilizes slopes. Together with reconfigured drains and stabilized terraces, these measures address the legacy failures of the original slab-on-fill court. Performance through the intense 2025 rainy season indicates that the earthworks and drainage strategy have aligned durability and maintenance with the region’s hydrologic demands.
Structure, Tectonics, and Flexibility
The circular hall is carried by radial concrete columns that receive a ring of radial beams, all tied by a central compression ring. Above, a double-pigmented concrete slab serves two roles: it provides the weathering surface and structural diaphragm for the roof court, and it stiffens the radial frame by distributing loads to the perimeter. The compact section limits overall height while producing a robust platform for high-impact use.
Internally, the multipurpose hall operates as one room or divides into two, with partitions aligning to the radial grid to keep sightlines and acoustics disciplined. Foundations and sequencing were tuned to the slope and to seasonal construction windows, combining slope-adapted footings with limited excavation to stabilize the ground without excessive disturbance. The result is a direct tectonic expression where structural logic, program flexibility, and topographic negotiation are inseparable.
UH INFONAVIT Santa Fe Plans
UH INFONAVIT Santa Fe Image Gallery
About AMASA Estudio
AMASA Estudio is a Mexico City–based architecture practice founded by Andrea López and Agustín Pereyra. The studio emphasizes site-responsive design strategies that integrate architecture, landscape, and infrastructure. With a focus on civic and public interventions, AMASA Estudio’s work often addresses complex urban contexts through spatial clarity, ecological preservation, and the flexible programming of shared spaces.
Credits and Additional Notes
- Structural engineers: Juan Felipe Heredia
- MEP consultants: Germán Muñoz
- Landscape designers: Maritza Hernandez
- Client: INFONAVIT
- Construction company: Desarrolladora de Ideas y Espacios (Alberto Cejudo)
- Lighting design: Gabriel Briseño
