Masterplan for Mexican "health city" unveiled

Foster + Partners has designed a masterplan for a centre of medical excellence which will be based in the south of Mexico City.

The low-carbon, mixed-use, 71 Ha "Campus Biometropolis" development will integrate care facilities alongside teaching spaces, research institutions and laboratories. It will also feature a new nature reserve to preserve Mexico City's indigenous plants and animal species.

According to Foster + Partners the wilderness area, together with enhanced landscaped zones will take up half of the site, providing a landscaped setting for the buildings and safeguarding the future of the land through sensitive development.

The campus will include offices, apartments, shops and amenities and the arrangement of buildings navigates a course around the Pedregal lava fields, a network of subterranean lava tube formations and caves, sections of which will be exposed to encourage scientific investigation.

The site is close to Mexico City's southern medical cluster and the National University. The scheme integrates hotel facilities for visitors to the hospital and conference centre, facilities for bio-tech industries, clinical studies and a number of specialist units, planned to target six key areas of medicine: cancer, cardiovascular, infectious diseases, pharmaceuticals, nutrition and geriatrics.

Foster + Partners said, given Mexico City's water shortages, the campus is designed to maintain and augment the proportion of green space through which water can be absorbed naturally into the aquifer below.

The masterplan is designed to encourage the use of public transport - solar-powered electric vehicles will move people around the campus. Walking distances on-site are being kept short and a bus connection to the nearby university station will use the available capacity on a quieter section of the metro line.

While parking spaces will be incorporated, they will be below a raised podium level to create a pedestrian environment and maximise the available space for the nature reserve at ground level.

Nigel Dancey, a senior partner and design director at Foster + Partners, said, "Campus Biometropolis is our first masterplan in Mexico, building on our growing portfolio in Central and South America. It is the first of its kind - a unique opportunity to create a medical district of international importance.

"The masterplan will incorporate state-of-the-art facilities and buildings with a wide range of functions. The project will help safeguard the recharging of the aquifer supplying much of Mexico City and protect indigenous plant and animal species, as well as the important geological formations found on the site."