In Mexico City, water management is an increasingly pressing issue. The Mexican capital is often beset by both droughts and flooding and largely lacks sufficient infrastructure to tackle either challenge. It was with this in mind that Manuel Perló Cohen, director of the Institute for Social Research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and architect Loreta Castro Reguera set about designing La Quebradora Waterpark for the densely populated neighborhood of Iztapalapa.
The ingenuity of their resulting proposal propelled the project to win a Holcim Foundation Award in 2018. The timing of the award proved particularly fortunate, as a change in local leadership threatened the completion of the waterpark.
“Winning the award really helped us convince the people that had to make the decision about continuing its construction about the benefits of the project,” says Castro Reguera. “Having the credibility that this prize gives to projects, we were able to really make the government understand that they were making the correct decision.”
Holcim Foundation Awards 2025
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Holcim Foundation Awards Microsite