FARO Cosmos

Photos: Tania Victoria/ Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México

The FARO Cosmos is one of the leading community and cultural centers in this part of Mexico City. Part of the network of Fábricas de Artes y Oficios run by Mexico City’s Department of Culture, this one makes a nice complement to the nearby San Rafael theater district. Programming focuses especially on film, music, dance, and performing arts.

The FARO re-opened in 2021 in the space of the old Cine Cosmos. It’s a historic theater especially famous during the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema. Inside, you’ll find a monument to the Student Movement of 1971. The movie theater played a crucial role sheltering students and protestors during sometimes violent clashes with police and the military.

The space was redesigned and rehabilitated by TEN Arquitectos, the Taller de Enrique Norten. The firm had also contributed to the design of the FARO Aragón prior to it’s opening in 2016. The rest of the firms projects can be seen all over Mexico City, from the transit center being built at Metro Observatorio to work on the Iztapalapa Macroplaza project. Here, TEN provided viewing galleries, a black box theater, an auditorium, movie theater, restrooms, a rooftop terrace, and specialized rooms for artistic and cultural courses and training.

The FARO Cosmos plays a vital role in the culture of the Calzada México-Tacuba corridor. Surrounded as it by dense and historical residential communities, the broad avenue connects people from Santa Maria la Ribera and San Rafael, to those at the farthest reaches, in Tacuba and beyond. The center is a few minutes walk from Metro Normal.