The creation of Intercultural Universities was promoted by the General Coordination of Intercultural and Bilingual Education (CGEIB), the Undersecretary of Higher Education and the Secretaries of Education of the States, thus creating in 2001 the first Intercultural University; the Intercultural University of the State of Mexico (UIEM). (Schmelkes in Mato, 2008).

There are currently 12 Intercultural Universities in Mexico; The Autonomous Indigenous University of Mexico, the Intercultural University of Chiapas, the Intercultural University of the State of Hidalgo, the Intercultural University of the State of Mexico, the Intercultural University of the State of Guerrero, the Intercultural University of the State of Puebla, the Intercultural University of the State of Michoacán, the Intercultural Mayan University of Quintana Roo, the Intercultural University of San Luis Potosí, the Intercultural University of Tabasco, the Intercultural University of Veracruz and currently in 2021 the Intercultural University of Baja California opened in San Quintín.

The Intercultural Universities are governed by an educational model that establishes the foundations of interculturality, proposing intercultural dialogue as "the possibility of promoting a process of dialogue and learning" (Casillas & Intercultural, 2009) and also promotes "the incorporation of linguistic expressions and manifestations of the cultures and knowledge of the indigenous peoples of the country, both in the substantive functions of the university and in its insertion in the fundamental corpus of its scientific activity.

These institutions share several characteristics among which are that they have low enrollments, share similar unconventional educational programs except for the Universidad Autónoma Indígena de México, consider a community linkage axis in their educational programs, incorporate the teaching-learning of indigenous languages, are located mainly in indigenous regions, promote the cultural and linguistic diversity of the regions where they have an impact. In addition to these characteristics, these institutions also share what concerns the construction of spaces:

"From the perspective of the cultures of indigenous peoples, it is the duty of Intercultural Universities to promote the economic, cultural and social development of indigenous peoples, preserving their identity. For this purpose, lines of action are proposed that emphasize three axes: the use of materials and construction systems of the region in their facilities; the development of harmonious forms integrated to the landscape or to the traditional local architecture, and the projection in the design of the symbology and traditions of the indigenous peoples of the region" (Casillas & Intercultural, 2009).

It is worth mentioning that not all intercultural universities have followed this line of construction system using materials from the regions where they are located, nor the harmonic forms, nor the use of symbology, but there are some Intercultural Universities that share these approaches and have also incorporated the perspective of sustainability. In this sense, this work shows 5 Intercultural Universities that have incorporated intercultural and sustainable perspectives in their architecture, So the main objective of this work was to analyze the cultural and sustainability elements incorporated in the architectural spaces of the 5 Intercultural Universities in Mexico.

This research was built through different in-depth interviews (Taylor & Bogdan, 2000). In addition, different architectural designs provided by the architect of the UICEH were retrieved. So we resorted to reflective ethnography (Guber et al., 2001). Another technique that I used in this section and that was fundamental for the reconstruction of this research was ethnographic photography (Brandes, n.d.).

The relevance of the term "intercultural" in Latin America emerged in the 1990s, when various research and debates began to emerge from different approaches: social, anthropological, educational, political and promoted by different actors: academics, researchers, students, civil organizations, indigenous and Afro-descendant groups (López-Hurtado and Quiroz, 2007). Addressing the issue of interculturality is complex due to the diversity of studies currently existing not only in Latin America, but also in the world. In this sense, it is impossible to make an analysis that does not leave out some research, a reflection, a contribution, a challenge, etc., so here I will take up the discussions that I consider essential and that will allow me to identify positions, reflections and contributions on the subject.

Several studies in Latin America related to interculturality in Higher Education Institutions present interculturality experiences of conventional, Afro-descendant and indigenous Higher Education institutions, analysis from intercultural policy, conceptual discussions etc., ((Mato, n.d.), (Mato, n.d.), (Mato, 2018), (Ramirez, n.d.);(López, n.d.); (Tubino, January 24-28, 2005);(Walsh et al., 2008);(Fornet-Betancourt, 2009), and (Gasché, n.d.)). Now This section aims to provide an overview of the emergence of intercultural higher education in Mexico and the diversity of research that has emerged on the subject.

Now This section aims to provide an overview of the emergence of intercultural higher education in Mexico and the diversity of research that has emerged on the subject.

The San Andres dialogues of 1996, in which the various participants, such as bilingual teachers, civil organizations, academics and community leaders, made explicit the urgency of developing an intercultural education for all (Dietz, 2009) were a trigger to meet various demands, including educational ones, so in relation to these events the General Coordination of Intercultural and Bilingual Education (CGEIB) was created in 2001 to offer a culturally and linguistically relevant education to indigenous people at all levels (Schmelkes, n.d.).

If we add to the above demands the data showing the inequity that has existed between the mestizo population and indigenous groups and the low percentages (2%) of access of this vulnerable population to higher education (Bertely, 2011), it is evident that there is an urgent need for higher education programs and institutions that cater to these populations. This is how intercultural higher education began to take shape in Mexico, with the creation of intercultural universities by the (General Coordination of Intercultural Bilingual Education (CGEIB), whose reasons, as Schmelkes mentions, were the following: the training of their students towards the solution of regional problems and towards the promotion of the integral development of the region". (Schmelkes, n.d.).

"(a) The low coverage of the indigenous population in higher education in general, and in public education in particular. The country's indigenous population represents 10% of the national population. However, it is estimated that barely 1% of higher education enrollment is indigenous. The National Education Program 2001-2006 recognized this inequality in the educational opportunities of the indigenous population and proposed tripling the enrollment of indigenous people at this educational level, as well as at the previous one (SEP, 2001). It was considered that the creation of intercultural universities, to be located in regions with a significant percentage of indigenous population, could contribute to the achievement of this goal by bringing the educational offer closer to the population that otherwise would not have access to it.

b) Indigenous demands. These demands have been escalating in such a way that they now incorporate not only access to basic education, but also to job training and higher education. The organized indigenous peoples have also qualified their demands, and have requested that this educational offer include the teaching of indigenous languages and be open to their own cultural contributions. c) The geographic imbalance of national development.

c) Geographical imbalance of national development. The regions where indigenous populations are concentrated are particularly disadvantaged, despite the fact that many of them are rich in natural resources. By training professionals, it was thought, universities can orient the educational offer and the training of their students towards the solution of regional problems and towards the promotion of the integral development of the region". (Schmelkes in Mato, 2008:312).

The creation of Intercultural Universities was promoted by the CGEIB, the Undersecretary of Higher Education of the Public Secretary and the state education secretaries, thus creating in 2001 the first Intercultural University; the Intercultural University of the State of Mexico (UIEM) with federal funding 80% and state budget 20% (ibid:314). To date, 12 intercultural universities have been created.

Methodologically, we resorted to reflective ethnography (Guber et al., 2001) through which several interviews were conducted (Taylor & Bogdan, 2000) with the architect of the UICEH, which allowed an approach to the history of the construction of the University and to understand how the different proposals of interculturality and sustainability were reflected in the construction.

The unstructured interviews have a high degree of freedom and depth. "In this regard, Brimo (1972: 209) points out that an unstructured interview never relies on a list of questions established in relation to the order in which they are asked or the way they are asked, but rather on a freer conversation; the freedom will vary depending on the nature of the unstructured interview in question. (Tarrés, n.d.)

I conducted more than 10 interviews with the architect of the UICEH, he was responsible for the construction of the University, so he provided me with the architectural plans and some photographs of other Intercultural Universities. The photographs were fundamental (Brandes, n.d.), the images of some constructions of the universities shown in this research are an important part of the project, the images of the constructions, the green and sustainable areas of the universities invite the reader to imagine beyond what the photograph itself represents.

"The key role of photography in exercising power remains in its possibility of allowing the intensive investigation of the Other ... According to Foucault, photography allows the viewing public "the possibility of ... classify and punish. It establishes upon the photographed a visibility by which they can be differentiated and judged." (Ibid:33)"

The photographs of the Intercultural Universities, some provided by the architect and others recovered during the ethnographic work I carried out, allow me to visually understand the cultural and sustainability elements found in each construction.

After recording the interviews, we proceeded to the analysis of the data where we began to find that the architecture contained elements of both intercultural and sustainability conceptions, these conceptions were linked to the planning and architectural design.

Some of the results found in this research were that the architecture of the five Intercultural Universities recovers local elements of the cultures of incidence.

It was important to identify that universities such as the one in Hidalgo implemented eco-technologies in their construction, setting an example of sustainable and intercultural construction for other types of higher education institutions.

Intercultural universities have tried to incorporate the elements pointed out by the intercultural model of the university, these elements propose the dialogue of western and community knowledge in their curricula, educational practices and infrastructure.

The cases of intercultural universities presented in this paper reflect in their construction elements of sustainability and interculturality of the communities where they operate, including regional materials such as stone, vegetation and cultural elements such as signs in indigenous languages.

It is worth mentioning that despite these efforts of these institutions to incorporate these elements of both sustainability and interculturality, there are still challenges such as the need to generate diagnoses that incorporate the sustainable and intercultural visions of the inhabitants of these regions, getting involved in the processes and being part of these architectural designs from their vision, that is, incorporating their knowledge but not only from the external vision without consultation and direct participation.

It could be argued that within the perspectives of interculturality there are functional, relational and critical perspectives, as Walsh (2008) points out. The first two, according to the author, propose an interculturality that has worked for the State but has not considered the voices of the peoples, and does not analyze the power that has always existed of the dominant classes.

This is important to mention because in the case of intercultural universities they recover the relational perspective of interculturality, in some way recovering cultural and environmental elements of the communities, but they still have an enormous challenge because the indigenous populations have not been involved in the design of these institutions.

These practices of sustainability and interculturality incorporated in the infrastructure are the beginning of an innovative proposal from the intercultural universities that recovers cultural, linguistic and environmental practices of indigenous peoples, these proposals can even open the possibility of recovering materials that have ceased to be used such as stone, adobe (a mixture of mud and straw with which the walls were made). These materials have been replaced by cement, which generates more pollution.

The architecture of intercultural universities with this vision can serve as examples for the recovery of knowledge about materials considered traditional in the construction of houses in the communities of incidence and that are no longer recognized by the new generations.

There is no doubt that these institutions present interesting visions of how historical, sustainable and cultural elements can be incorporated in their infrastructures, suggesting that these practices can be transferred to the socalled conventional universities, even assuming those challenges that the intercultural universities themselves still face in relation to the incorporation of people in the decision-making, design and evaluation processes of this type of projects.

Intercultural universities can be an example of innovative approaches on how to articulate the epistemic diversity of knowledge from their infrastructure, curriculum and educational practices.

Something important to mention about the difficulties for this type of architecture to be implemented in other educational institutions, at least in the case of Mexico, is the budget and the vision of those responsible for the educational architecture, that is, if an analysis is made of the architecture of other educational levels such as elementary or high school, the educational architecture does not present characteristics such as intercultural universities,

Something important to mention about the difficulties for this type of architecture to be implemented in other educational institutions, at least in the case of Mexico, is the budget and the vision of those responsible for the educational architecture, that is, if an analysis is made of the architecture of other educational levels such as elementary or high school, the educational architecture does not present characteristics such as those of intercultural universities.

This raises the need to incorporate intercultural education in the leaders responsible for educational infrastructure projects so that the importance of recovering both cultural and sustainable elements of the communities where the educational institutions will have an impact is taken into account.

The architecture of the five Intercultural Universities recovers local elements of the cultures of incidence. The UIEM recovers pre-Hispanic elements in its architecture and recovers signs in the indigenous languages of the local communities.

UNICH recovers traditional materials in its construction trying to give identity to the architecture with mud roofs, quarry boards and its interaction with indigenous languages.

The UIET, like the other Intercultural Universities, recovers materials from the region in its construction.

The architecture of the UIMQRO is inspired by the Mayan culture which it recovers in its buildings.

The UICEH incorporates cultural elements of the region and incorporates the category of sustainability in the architecture incorporating eco-techniques, materials from the region such as stone and vegetation. It also incorporated the collection and reuse of rainwater, reuse of gray and treated water, use of biodigesters to generate biogas and use of sludge for fertilization and composting of land, natural ventilation, solar energy based on solar cell system and use of harmonious forms integrated into the landscape was the integration of building elements of indigenous cultures of the region, elements of traditional local architecture, symbols and environment.

An essential characteristic of these five intercultural universities is the recovery of cultural and environmental elements of local cultures, recognizing their diversity and richness in the architectural designs.

This research shows how, through the architecture of the five universities studied, elements of local cultures and elements of sustainability are recovered. It is important to recognize how the vision of these intercultural universities tries to adhere to the visions of the indigenous peoples where they have an impact.

The visual elements offered by this type of construction are not only beautiful in the eyes of students, teachers and staff working there, but also recognize the importance of the materials used in the communities where they operate, as in the case of Hidalgo, which recovers stone from the region.

Few studies were found that show how, through architecture, elements of interculturality and sustainability are embodied, so this work is considered important as a reference for further research on the subject.