The Innovation by Design Awards honor the designers and businesses solving the most crucial problems of today and anticipating the pressing issues of tomorrow. The competition, now in its 12th year, features a range of blue-chip companies, emerging startups, and hungry young talents. It is one of the most sought-after design awards in the industry. Entries are judged on the key ingredients of innovation: functionality, originality, beauty, sustainability, user insight, cultural impact, and business impact.

Sasaki’s campus master plan for Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico City’s new tech district aims to enhance innovation and strengthen the local community. It creates a new paradigm for how a Latin American university can reinforce connections between academia, industry, and government, with a multi-helix approach to the innovation economy. It creates a campus where the community and larger society are more involved and benefit from innovation activities and urban regeneration.

Sustainability and resilience were an integral part of the design process, harnessing how the university can help minimize resource depletion and climate change. Water sensitive strategies ensure the capture and reuse of rainwater across the landscape of the campus and adjacent district. The plan also carefully preserves and integrates existing trees on site, becoming a major driver of public spaces and buildings while maintaining high levels of biodiversity. Following the university’s larger decarbonization efforts, a district-wide approach to reducing energy demands informed passive strategies such as building orientation to reduce solar heat gain, and integration of photovoltaic panels and green roofs on all new structures. The district’s access to public transit, with two subway stations in addition to the plan’s proposed network of shaded sidewalks, bike lanes and public spaces, promote walkability,  healthy living and a strong sense of community integration.

The plan has been enthusiastically approved by the university, and the vision has triggered the interest of both the public and private sectors, helping to establish key institutional partnerships with adjacent universities and health research institutes as well as developers and neighborhood community groups. 

Congratulations to the design team for this incredible honor!

Click here to see the full list of winners, finalists, and honorable mentions.