MEXICO CITY.- CENTRO, Mexico City’s premier university for creative studies, announced the opening of its new campus designed by internationally renowned architect Enrique Norten of TEN Arquitectos and built according to the standards of LEED Platinum certification. CENTRO will inaugurate the new campus and celebrate this great achievement with a series of special events and symposiums beginning on September 29, 2015.

Since its founding in 2004 by Gina Diez Barroso and Abraham Franklin, CENTRO has become Mexico’s pioneer institution for higher learning in the field of creativity, providing its 2,500 students with the unique opportunity to transform their passion and talent into successful, cutting edge professional careers. As its names suggests, CENTRO embraces the intersection of different fields such as creativity, business, technology and science. The school fosters a careful balance between thought, practice and action, reflected in its interdisciplinary and dynamic curriculum with an entrepreneurial and sustainable focus.

CENTRO’s broad range of academic programs include seven undergraduate degrees in Interior Architecture, Film & Television, Visual Communication, Industrial Design, Textile & Fashion, Marketing & Advertising, and Digital Media Design; nine graduate degree programs; and continuing education courses in related topics. In addition to the school’s competitive curriculum, CENTRO also offers real-world experience that extends far beyond the confines of the classroom. Through social impact partnerships and collaborations with international organizations such as Wanted Design, 72and Sunny, 3M, MoMA and London Graduate Fashion Week, students begin to build their own network long before they graduate while working on complex projects that prepare them for future leadership roles in their chosen fields.

The school’s rapid success over the past decade has made it necessary to develop even larger and more specialized features capable of accommodating its growing student body. Enrique Norten’s iconic design for the new campus will physically embody CENTRO’s dynamic and inclusive atmosphere, with sustainable LEED structures, maximum accessibility between all facilities, optimal access to public transportation services and a central public park in a key urban development zone. An ideal combination of interior studios and outdoor work areas will offer distinct types of learning environments, allowing for fluid teaching methods and cross pollination between CENTRO’s many creative disciplines.

Built on Mexico City’s Avenida Constituyentes, the campus is constructed on a 5,600 m2 piece of land, featuring a 25,500 m2 building and 2,150 m2 of green space. At the heart of the campus is a multifunctional auditorium with up to 450 seats that can be adjusted according to the needs of a specific event or performance. Equipped with advanced acoustics and lighting, this flexible venue will provide the perfect forum for collaboration among students as well as a space for national and international personalities in design, culture, business, science and politics to speak at CENTRO. Additional highlights of the new campus include an impressive 905 m2 exterior staircase built by Dutch-born, Mexican-based artist Jan Hendrix; a four-story media library containing a vast specialized collection of books, magazines, films and digital archives; a state-of the-art film studio where Film & Television majors can produce, direct and create stage-sets for their projects; and a series of workshop studios that range from textiles and fashion to industrial design to jewelry and ceramics, each furnished with the latest machines and technologies for students to hone their craft.

Gina Diez Barroso explains, “Abraham and I founded CENTRO with the mission to reimagine creative education by raising the professional standards of disciplines that prepare our students to establish successful careers within the fields that they are most passionate about. It has been a great pleasure to collaborate with Enrique Norten, who so clearly understands and embodies our vision, on a new home for CENTRO. With this new campus, we look forward to expanding both our course offerings and the number of international students we can accommodate, and to continue to provide an atmosphere that challenges, surprises and nourishes our students.”

Enrique Norten adds, “I feel honored and thankful for the responsibility and the trust that CENTRO has placed in TEN Arquitectos by offering us the new campus commission. It has been a privilege to spend time with Gina and Abraham and see their vision grow and flourish; a vision that has given the design, art and cultural communities of one of Latin America’s most important academic institutions, an unquestionable global reference point.”

With this new campus, CENTRO will continue to thrive as an institution for creative minds to develop into the next generation of thoughtful leaders, both in Mexico City and abroad. CENTRO looks forward to announcing further details on the campus’ inaugural events in the coming weeks.