Hydropuncture in Mexico

Publicly accessible water retention and treatment complex (La Quebradora Waterpark)

Hydropuncture in Mexico

Publicly accessible water retention and treatment complex (La Quebradora Waterpark)

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    Global finalist entry 2018 – Hydropuncture

    Located on the hillside of Sierra Santa Catarina, the site directly serves 28,000 inhabitants in urgent need of recreational spaces and water. By removing the borders and placing a transparent permeable fence, the place becomes a sustainable water management landmark located in an important crossroads. It fosters street life by adopting Paraíso Street and turning it into a shared mobility thoroughfare with commerce, reducing crime in what the community detected as the most dangerous street in the area.

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    Global LafargeHolcim Awards 2018 prize handover

    Congratulating the Global LafargeHolcim Awards Gold 2018 winners (l-r): Rodolfo Montero, CEO of Holcim Mexico; winners Loreta Castro Reguera, Taller Capital and Manuel Perló, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM); with members of the Board of the LafargeHolcim Foundation Roland Köhler, Enrique Norten, and Maria Atkinson.

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    Hydropuncture in Mexico

    The opening of the new waterpark not only doubles the amount of public recreational space available to locals, but triples the number of trees.

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    Global LafargeHolcim Awards Gold 2018 – Site Visit, Mexico City

    The local government is pushing for the publicly accessible water park project to be completed soon.

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    Global finalist entry 2018 – Hydropuncture

    The rainwater mirror lies at the center of the park. This venue is intended to transform from dry-scape to waterscape along the year.

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    Global LafargeHolcim Awards Gold 2018 – Site Visit, Mexico City

    The water treatment basins are ready, the buildings and landscaping to complete the section are still ongoing.

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    Global finalist entry 2018 – Hydropuncture

    The core of the park is formed by the Weeping Willow courtyard. This venue works during rainy days, catching the aboveground rainwater and producing a temporary pond that gradually filters water.

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    Global LafargeHolcim Awards Gold 2018 – Site Visit, Mexico City

    Project author Loreta Castro Reguera explaining how great amounts of earth had to be moved in order to make use of the gravitational flow of water.

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    Global finalist entry 2018 – Hydropuncture

    The open-air theatre is adjacent to Calle Paraíso, detected as the most dangerous in the area. It will promote night activities to have open space occupation along most of the day.

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    Global finalist entry 2018 – Hydropuncture

    Through a set of hard, vegetated squares and gardens, the park provides spaces for all age groups and genders.

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    Publicly-accessible water retention and treatment complex, Mexico City, Mexico

    The site will become a soft water management infrastructure powered with solar energy. It will filter 68,000m3 of runoff per year. Due to water scarcity in the area, 86.4 m3/day of waste water will be treated for its further use in a system of public toilets that serve those that, although having the facility, do not have water. Furthermore, the park will more than triple the number of trees in the area, augmenting open space from 1–3 m2/person, emphasizing the sponge-like capabilities of the ground.

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    Publicly-accessible water retention and treatment complex, Mexico City, Mexico

    Quebradora facilitates non-motorized mobility, enabling movement from up the sierra to Ermita.

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    Publicly-accessible water retention and treatment complex, Mexico City, Mexico

    The park stitches together the previously uncommunicated surroundings, promoting day-long activities.

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    Publicly-accessible water retention and treatment complex, Mexico City, Mexico

    Cross section: Molding the site through a strategy of stone retention walls and platforms.

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    Publicly-accessible water retention and treatment complex, Mexico City, Mexico

    Cross section relating sidewalk and park. Underground runoff flows. Park program underneath

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    Publicly-accessible water retention and treatment complex, Mexico City, Mexico

    Main entrance through Ermita-Minas-Paraíso, busy crossroads, view towards Sierra Santa Catarina.

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    Publicly-accessible water retention and treatment complex, Mexico City, Mexico

    Each public square is represented by an endemic tree species, providing it with identity.

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    Publicly-accessible water retention and treatment complex, Mexico City, Mexico

    Social center roof terrace view, southeastern access. Endemic plants adjust to climate conditions

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    Publicly-accessible water retention and treatment complex, Mexico City, Mexico

    Adding a museum and a library with cafeteria are part of the community’s proposals.

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    Publicly-accessible water retention and treatment complex, Mexico City, Mexico

    Located on the hillside of Sierra Santa Catarina, the site directly serves 28,000 inhabitants in urgent need of recreational spaces and water. By removing the borders and placing a transparent permeable fence, the place becomes a sustainable water management landmark located in an important crossroads. It fosters street life by adopting Paraíso Street and turning it into a shared mobility thoroughfare with commerce, reducing crime in what the community detected as the most dangerous street in the area.

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    LafargeHolcim Awards 2017 for Latin America prize handover ceremony, San José

    Winners of the LafargeHolcim Awards Gold 2017 (l-r): Loreta Castro Reguera and Manuel Perló Cohen, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City for Publicly-accessible water retention and treatment complex in Mexico.

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    LafargeHolcim Awards 2017 for Latin America prize handover ceremony, San José

    Presentation to the winners of the LafargeHolcim Awards Gold (l-r): Angelo Bucci, Co-founder & Principal, spbr arquitetos; and Lecturer, Faculty of Architecture & Urbanism, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil and Head of the LafargeHolcim Awards jury; prize winners Manuel Perló Cohen and Loreta Castro Reguera, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City for Publicly-accessible water retention and treatment complex in Mexico; Edward Schwarz, General Manager, LafargeHolcim Foundation.

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    LafargeHolcim Awards 2017 for Latin America prize handover ceremony, San José

    Winners of the LafargeHolcim Awards Main prizes (l-r): Jonathan Franklin, Exxpon and Sol Camacho Davalos, Raddar, Brazil (Silver); Loreta Castro Reguera and Manuel Perló Cohen, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Gold); Eva Pfannes and Sylvain Hartenberg from Ooze Architects, Netherlands (Bronze).

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    LafargeHolcim Awards 2017 for Latin America media briefing, San José

    Loreta Castro and Manuel Perló (speaking) explained how their LafargeHolcim Awards 2017 Gold winning project in Mexico City brings together public amenities in combination with an integrated water retention and treatment complex.

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    Publicly-accessible water retention and treatment complex, Mexico City, Mexico

    Project team.

  • Awards Gold 2017–2018 Latin America
  • Awards Gold 2017–2018 Global
Project intermingling flood basins and public amenities, with spaces following the gravitational logic of flowing water in an underprivileged area of Mexico City.

By Manuel Perló - Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico; Loreta Castro Reguera - Taller Capital, Mexico City, Mexico and

Ideas: Ecosystem Restoration, Economic & Social Empowerment, Urban Requalification

The community-minded project tackles both infrastructural and social challenges of urban water management in Mexico City. By interweaving water management with public amenities, “La Quebradora Hydraulic Park” reintroduces water to the civic realm.

The waterpark functions by diverting rainwater that flows into the city from the Sierra de Santa Catarina mountain range away from Ermita Iztapalpa Avenue, which is prone to flooding. Two roads serve as stormwater channels to carry the runoff water to La Quebradora, where it seeps through a series of screens and filters into two permeable basins and eventually infiltrates the underlying soil and groundwater.

Around these basins are a series of sloping, tree-studded terraces and community buildings designed to encourage locals to use the space. There’s an open-air theater, a skate park and various other sporting facilities and plazas where people from the neighborhood can socialize.

Hydropuncture in Mexico

Project authors

  • LafargeHolcim Next Generation Awards Lab 2018
    Manuel Perló

    Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)

  • OD
    Oscar Díaz

    Mexico City

  • EP
    Emilio Ponce

    Mexico City

  • OT
    Oscar Torrentera

    HUVA Consultoría

  • ET
    Elena Tudela

    Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)

  • JAP
    José Antonio Poncelis

    GAIA

  • VL
    Víctor Luna

    Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)

  • FG
    Fernando Gómez

    Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)

  • NR
    Néstor Rangel

    Taller Capital

  • JC
    Jorge Compeán

    GAIA

  • AR
    Alejandra Ramos

    Mexico City

  • MG
    Margarita Gorbea

    Mexico City

  • GR
    Gustavo Rojas

    Área Común

  • SS
    Sara Sour

    Virens Arquitectura Paisaje Ingeniería

  • YL
    Yvonne Labiaga

    Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)

  • JA
    Julian Arroyo

    D202

  • JC
    Jetro Centeno

    Mexico City

  • LP
    Lino Pau

    Mexico City

Words with Winners

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.

Hydropuncture in Mexico

The opening of the new waterpark not only doubles the amount of public recreational space available to locals, but triples the number of trees.

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

Are you working on a project like this? Enter the Holcim Foundation Awards 2025 and join the ranks of industry-changing winners!

Holcim Foundation Awards Microsite
  • “Today we can see the advantages of really having given a lot of thought about how to get the community into the project.”

    Loreta Castro Reguera | Taller Capital, Mexico

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