Forty-seven years after construction began on the El Rosario housing complex—the largest housing development in Mexico at 350 hectares—the Azcapotzalco borough of Mexico City, in coordination with the city's Social Prosecutor's Office and the ICA Foundation, inaugurated the photographic exhibition “The City within the City: El Rosario” on March 25 at Plaza El Parián. The exhibition aims to show residents and visitors the evolution this complex has undergone over time.
The exhibition “The City within the City: El Rosario” features 72 photographs and informational panels that, through aerial views of buildings and interior shots of houses and apartments, showcase the initial urban design, offering a glimpse into daily life during those years. It also highlights the renowned Mexican architects who participated in its design, concluding with a display of the most recent rehabilitation works the housing complex has undergone.
The history of the complex dates back to April 1972, the year the Institute of the National Housing Fund for Workers (Infonavit) was created with four credit lines that lasted until 1992: housing acquisition financed by the institute, housing acquisition financed by third parties, home construction on private land, and loans to pay off liabilities acquired under any of the previous categories. Consequently, the national housing policy was implemented through a scheme that built and allocated housing through labor sectors. This transformed not only the structure of the paternalistic welfare state but also the future of housing itself.
As noted in the curatorial text, the 200-hectare master plan was designed by Ricardo Legorreta, featuring buildings by Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, Juan Sordo Madaleno, Augusto H. Álvarez, Enrique Carral, and Vladimir Kaspé, with urban landscaping by Luis Sánchez Renero, Pedro Span, and Mario Schjetnan. Its design premises included housing diversity, industrialization of elements and components, housing types based on cost, analysis of existing housing, flexible dwelling designs, integration of commercial spaces, and construction and utility processes. Located in the north of the Valley of Mexico, between Azcapotzalco and the State of Mexico, El Rosario became a city within the city.
The exhibition will run from March 25 to May 3 at Plaza El Parián, located on Herreros Street S/N, El Rosario, and will subsequently move to the Las Brujas Esplanade from May 4 to August 27 in Mexico City.
This article was written by Mónica Arellano. The translation is powered by AI.
