Beck Earns Texas Society of Architects’ Design Award for Estadio Borregos

The Beck Group earned a 2020 Design Award from the Texas Society of Architects for Estadio Borregos, its design-build project at Tec de Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico.

The Texas Society of Architects Design Awards highlights outstanding architectural and urban design projects by architects in Texas to promote public interest in design excellence. The competition focuses statewide attention on the quality of the built environment while also highlighting the essential role of architects in our communities.

Of the 205 projects submitted for consideration in the 2020 awards, Estadio Borregos, which translates to Ram Stadium, was one of only 19 projects recognized. All of the winning designs will appear in the September/October issue of Texas Architect magazine.

A Storied American Football Program in Mexico

Estadio Borregos was designed by Beck’s team in Dallas and built by its construction group in Mexico. The first-class, multi-functional facility frames the scenic mountain backdrop of the Cerro de la Silla on a 14-hectare site intended to serve as the school’s central location for sports, culture, and student leadership.

Tec de Monterrey is one of the top universities in Latin America, with 15,000 students enrolled at the Monterrey campus. One of the unique features of the University is that it plays American Football, a tradition that originally began in 1945. Since then, the New York Times and ESPN featured the University’s storied football program.

Athletics overall is a vital component of the University’s TEC 21 educational pedagogy, so creating a facility that was accessible to students and the surrounding community was essential. It was also important to Tec that this large structure fits into the context of the historic campus. Beck’s design team accomplished by placing the stadium at the north end of a new central park situated on the former site of the demolished stadium.

A Design That Accommodates the University and Community

The school even planned the opening of Estadio Borregos to align with the University’s seventy-fifth anniversary. Tec de Monterrey and Beck’s design vision for Estadio Borregos includes built-in flexibility for community use in addition to the school’s athletic programs.

The multi-purpose design is suitable for a range of activities, including sporting events (both soccer and American football), conferences, and cultural events like concerts and student festivals. Soccer matches and football games at the stadium can accommodate 10,000 attendees, while concerts can hold roughly 20,000 guests.

In addition to unique features like the stadium’s compliance with NCAA standards, its rectangular shape mimics the intimate feel of a soccer stadium, and its sunken field and seating bowl create an open appearance and feel.

Estadio Borregos is the latest and most notable of Beck’s sports-facility projects to date. Most recently, the University and stadium were in the news after the Dallas Cowboys drafted Isaac Alarcón, who used to play for Tec de Monterrey.