Campus Queretaro

As part of the design process, Sasaki produced a robust toolkit of space types and principles that reflect new thinking in the pedagogical structure as well as related impacts on the campus environment and adjacent communities. After evaluating the system’s 29 campuses for the best candidate, Querétaro was selected as the pilot campus to test and integrate this new thinking at the overall campus level.

Sasaki worked in close collabo­ration with the University’s Tec 21 advisory committee and the leadership at the Querétaro campus to articulate a clear vision that guided the overall campus framework and integration of the Tec 21 pedagogical structure.

The plan responds to its site context through a variety of conservation and development strategies, among which are the reclaiming of valuable land into a structured pedestrian friendly public realm, increas­ing connectivity amongst different parts of campus, actively engaging with allied industry and creating a framework for the integration of cutting edge pedagogical thinking.

A critical component of the overall campus framework was to re-work vehic­ular circulation within the campus. Consolidating extensive surface parking lots into two distributed parking garages enabled the creation of an integrated pedestrian and bike-friendly public realm in which all buildings and key program destinations are concentrated within a five-minute walking radius. A clear east-west pedes­trian spine now links all key components of the campus and creates a seamless transition between east and west, creating one integrated campus.

The Tec 21 toolkit and principles are harnessed to help strategize and struc­ture new building and public realm interventions within the Querétaro campus, and to create opportunities for collaboration and engagement with allied industries and the surrounding community.