CIVAC Linear Park

This infrastructure and urban renewal project creates a civic and cultural corridor along one of the main avenues in Jiutepec. 

REA

Architectural Project: Rozana Montiel Estudio de Arquitectura + Claudia Rodríguez 
Collaborators: Eleonora Pradegan, Brenda Landeros
Client: SEDATU
Location: Jiutepec, Morelos
Year: 2022

CIVAC Linear Park is an infrastructure and urban renewal project in one of the main avenues of Jiutepec in the State of Morelos under the Urban Improvement Program (PMU 2021) of the Ministry of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development (SEDATU). Through this urban reconstruction action in vulnerable areas, we activated a series of public and cultural spaces in the Industrial City of the Cuernavaca Valley (CIVAC) to generate a sense of belonging and pride in their communities.

The project integrates 1.15 kilometers of linear park, a civic center that houses the public institutions of the municipality and the delegation, a new Skatepark and an intermediate fountain that articulates the civic center with the linear park.

Civic Center

The main design premise is based on recovering the identity of the local landscape. We found in the area a large number of endemic trees that were more than 50 years old. The challenge was to incorporate all the existing trees into the design. To achieve this, the project is fragmented, by placing the buildings of the civic center in the clearings. Some of these trees are integrated into the architecture, framed by porticos and colonnades. Along with the porticoes, the base of Texcal stone quarried from the site generates a series of platforms, terraces and galleries that integrate the path of the buildings with courtyards, gardens and rest areas.

The administrative program - which includes the Property and Catastro offices, Civil Protection and Attention to Sexual Diversity, the Delegation (CIVAC) offices, the Public Ministry and the Civil Register offices with spaces for support service and a ceremonial hall - was complemented by a library, a cafeteria, a first aid center, speech therapy and psychological care workshops, and a children's playground. The new public buildings were designed with sand-colored pigmented concrete as the main material. In certain parts, the pigmented concrete is transformed into a lattice block of the same color, which, with a play of light and textures, adds identity to the building. The building is integrated into its surroundings and generates pleasant spaces and interesting paths in the shade of the original trees on the site.

The result is a unique balance between landscape, architecture and local materials.

PLANS

Skatepark

The Skatepark proposal arose from the need to materialize this space for the children and young people of the Skate community who were already making informal use of a neglected and dark area of Venus Park. The Skatepark marks the beginning of the Linear Park and offers spaces for practicing sports on bicycles, skates, skateboards and scooters. It also provides areas for the practice of two Olympic sports: BMX Freestyle Cycling and Skateboarding. The sand color of the pigmented concrete adds identity to the Skatepark, which has become one of the most important gathering places for the community.

Linear Park

The Linear Park is located on a 28-meter wide and 1.15 km long boulevard, between two high traffic streets that separate two contexts of very different scales: on the one side, a low-rise residential area and on the other, an industrial zone of CIVAC. We found that the linear park had become a hostile space, with an excess of concrete and had lost its condition of public space. This is why we proposed to recover the natural landscape of the place. Our design consists of a continuous line that deviates in different sections to respect and highlight the existing vegetation.

This line is wide enough for walking, running, cycling and facilitating the circulation of street vendors and at the same time liberates most of the surface to make room for the large trees and existing vegetation. At certain points in the park this line widens and transforms into platforms that serve as support for the program of sports areas, playgrounds, rest areas and a small basketball court.

The Linear Park ends with a multi-use circular forum, a circular platform with Texcal stone steps that can be used as a playground or amphitheater. By minimizing the concrete footprint and adapting the design to the natural environment, we have reclaimed the landscape and the essence of the site. Altogether, the Linear Park project provides new resources for the community of Jiutepec to forge a new civic identity.

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