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Historically The Central Campus of University City of the UMAM culminates 450 years since the founding of the original University in the vice-regal period.

This campus complex fulfilled the need to bring together the disparate schools and faculties once scattered throughout the old downtown district of Mexico City.
Tracing its origins to middle of the sixteenth century, the UNAM can boast to being America’s oldest institution of higher learning.

Architecturally and in terms of urban planning, the campus offers tribute to pre-Hispanic Mexico while turning its vision toward the future. These values are materialized in the modern urban layout and functional architecture derived from abstract and rationalist approaches typical of the first half of the twentieth century. These underpinnings serve to enhance the expression of nationalistic values and the modern Mexican identity.

The campus building complex is a fine example of the integrated urban design. The singular identity it posits has endured and the university has zealously guarded the campus from the onslaught of urban sprawl.

The campus continues to enjoy exceptional social significance, as it sustains the original impulse behind its construction arising from a nation-wide call to action for national renovation through public higher education and the opening of new cultural options.

Aesthetically,the campus design posits a unique synthesis of modern architecture and urbanism with allusions to Mexico’s rich pre-Hispanic past. Just as Mexico’s pre-Hispanic cultures employed codices to communicate and teach, Mexican muralism provides a stunning medium to achieve similar ends, while expressing the longing of a nation searching for a unified identity.

The mosaic murals integrating and embellishing the Central Library, Rectory Tower, Olympic Stadium and Faculties of Odontology, Sciences and Medicine are the tangible evidence of two basic aesthetic principles:

• Integration of Plastic Artworks. This concept was the contribution of David A. Siqueiros, José Chávez Morado, Francisco Eppens and Carlos Lazo.
• The New Monumentalism Manifesto. Originating in Europe, this vision was first enunciated by Sigfried Giedion, Ferdinand Leger and Josep Lluis Sert.
• Both principles embrace the use of pictorial representation to invigorate the emotive discourse of modern architectural design.
• Man controls atomic energy
• The scattering of religions
• The National University as collective benefactor
• Mesoamerican origins and modern Mexico
• The history of humanity as a common life lesson.
• The Central Campus allows the coexistence of diverse plastic idioms which are analogues to the specific values, including:
• Tolerance
• The importance of dialogue
• The importance of building consensus
• The wealth found in diversity

The aesthetic value of the Central Campus lies in its eclecticism. This plurality symbolizes that which is a fundamental requirement in all social endeavors. From any one vantage point on the campus, the observer is likely to admire examples of the following architectural discourses:

• Internationalism or European Modernism
• Regionalism in the use of local materials
• Rigor in the use of Mesoamerican proportions can be seen in the Fronton courts and Olympic Stadium
• Abstractionism in the campus layout and landscaping

The Central Campus belongs to the UNAM’s modern era. At its opening in 1954, the university was celebrating its 400th anniversary. It holds universal value in that it demonstrates the importance of the continuity and endurance of educational and cultural institutions despite political and social unrest over the centuries.

The mural work on the façade of the Central Library is a prime example of this universal value,embodying:

• Modernity
• Culture
• Knowledge
• Progress

The campus stands as a testament to the vital role of technology in the material pursuits that define us. Without the contribution of Mexican engineers, the vision proposed by architects might never have been realized. At a little more than 50 years since its opening, the campus continues to embody the values of interdisciplinary collaboration unfurled in the earliest days of its conception and which are carried forward through the ongoing work of educating new generations of Mexican professionals.

Another outstanding feature of the campus is its sustainable management model and function as an environmental project that preserves largest extension of unspoiled parkland within the confines of Mexico City. Moreover, the university community enjoys this natural reserve for social and recreational activities.
Building s and open spaces

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References
http://www.unam.mx/patrimonio/index.html