Case study · Zapopan, Jalisco (Mexico)
Jalisco’s first 100% accessible public building.
How the Zapopan Government turned the Foreign Affairs Liaison Unit · Passports into a fully accessible building: yellow tactile paving, braille, NaviLens and a light-and-sound button to request personal assistance.
Zapopan
Foreign Affairs Building · Passport Office (Jalisco, Mexico)
1st
First 100% accessible public building in the municipality and state
Sep 2024
Inaugurated by Mayor Juan José Frangie Saade
MXN 370k
Investment in universal-accessibility upgrades
Client
Zapopan Government Passport Office
Zapopan is one of the municipalities that make up the Guadalajara metropolitan area (Jalisco), with more than 1.4 million inhabitants. The municipal government runs, in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Passport Liaison Unit: the office where residents complete their passport application in person.
The building, at the corner of Avenida Guadalupe and Rafael Sanzio (Plaza Guadalupe district), was fully refurbished over one year and seven months to become the first fully accessible public building in the municipality and the state, with an estimated investment of MXN 370,000 across the various stages and equipment.
The work is part of the metropolitan strategy —shared with the Guadalajara City Council— to bring NaviLens into public spaces to improve the autonomy of people with visual impairment.
§ The challenge
Making getting a passport an accessible procedure too.
- 01
A compulsory procedure, not always accessible
Issuing a Mexican passport is an in-person procedure handled by the Foreign Affairs Liaison Unit. For a blind or low-vision person, finding the right door and locating counters and windows inside the building was a constant obstacle.
- 02
Turning an existing office into an inclusion benchmark
Zapopan’s challenge was not to build from scratch but to refurbish an office already in use so that any person —with any kind of disability— could enter, navigate and complete their procedure autonomously.
- 03
Adding tech without replacing people
Yellow tactile paving, braille and NaviLens codes had to coexist with a trained staff and light-and-sound call devices, so visitors decide what level of assistance they need at any moment.
§ The solution
Yellow tactile paving
+ NaviLens at its centre.
Each node of the tactile route embeds a NaviLens code at the centre of the yellow studded-and-barred tile mosaic: the cane confirms the position, the phone confirms the destination.
The route is continuous from the pedestrian crossing to the glass door and the indoor counter. To this layer the project adds braille, universal accessibility throughout the building and a light-and-sound button so that any person with a disability can request personal assistance from the Unit staff.
§ Timeline
From refurbishment to opening.
- 2023
Refurbishment kicks off
Zapopan City Council starts adapting the Foreign Affairs Passport Office building, at the corner of Avenida Guadalupe and Rafael Sanzio (Plaza Guadalupe district). The project lasts one year and seven months, with an estimated investment of MXN 370,000 across its various stages and equipment.
- Aug 2024
NaviLens reaches metropolitan Guadalajara
Guadalajara City Council announces the rollout of the NaviLens app across municipal spaces for visually impaired people. The technology, based on colour codes detectable by smartphone from several metres away and while moving, extends to the metropolitan area, including Zapopan.
- 23 Sep 2024
Opening of the first 100% accessible building
Mayor Juan José Frangie Saade officially opens the Passport Office as the first fully accessible public building in the municipality —and in the state of Jalisco—: continuous yellow tactile paving from the street to the door, NaviLens codes embedded in the mosaic, braille signage, universal accessibility and a light-and-sound button to request personal assistance.
- Today
A replicable model
Frangie announces that the next public-works investment includes expanding facilities and replicating this model in more municipal buildings: «I think we’re sending a message, not just to Zapopan, not just to the state, but to the whole Mexican Republic».
§ On site
From the street to the counter, without getting lost.
§ Results
«A model we must replicate.»
100%
Universal accessibility: tactile paving, braille, NaviLens and light-and-sound button
Street → counter
Continuous wayfinding from the crossing to the door and the counter
1 model
Template replicable to the rest of Zapopan’s public buildings
§ What they said
“Zapopan City Council opened the first fully accessible public building in the municipality. It is the Foreign Affairs Passport Office, at the corner of Avenida Guadalupe and Rafael Sanzio. The building has every accessibility device and technology to welcome people with any kind of disability and becomes the first of its kind at state level.”
“Zapopan’s mayor, Juan José Frangie, led the opening of his government’s first office with universal accessibility. The building has every accessibility device and technology to welcome people with any kind of disability and becomes the first of its kind at state level.”
“To build inclusive spaces, Guadalajara City Council announced the launch of the NaviLens app, a free tool designed to improve the autonomy of visually impaired people in the metropolitan area.”
§ And your headquarters?
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