Mindscrapers: Santa Fe, Old Mexico

In this special edition of Mindscrapers, Kenny and I explored what must be the capitol of corporate architecture in Mexico. Located in the southwest corner of the city, the exclusive neighborhood of Santa Fe sits on top of a massive landfill.

More than half a century ago, this area was mined for sand to supply building materials for construction downtown. When the supply was depleted, the government decided to fill the empty mines with the city's garbage. The landfill reached it's capacity by the 1980's, and from this point on, construction and development ran out of control.

There isn't a subway station for kilometers, so we took a small green bus through the slums to get to this millionaire's playground. (The third richest man in the world, Carlos Slim, lives here.) Santa Fe is barely connected to the rest of the city. It's an island of angular office buildings, residential towers, and claims the second largest mall in Latin America.

This building is affectionately known as the "washing-machine".

We were dumbfounded by the lack of city planning. There's a string of high-rises along a highway with no streets in between and virtually no sidewalks. It's like the buildings just fell out of the sky.

And more are on the way!

To be honest, we got more of a "post-apocalyptic wasteland" than "attractive utopia" feeling from this ridiculous combination of steel, glass, and pavement. The only thing Mexican about it is that the giant hotel behind Kenny is called Fiesta. Santa Fe clearly calls attention to the dramatic economic disparity in Mexico. The bus ride from the subway station says it all.

-PJ