Towards new collaborative models

VW: To a large extent, I believe that this boom that is characterising Mexico can be translated into one concept: collaboration between firms. Between us, there is a lot of collaboration because we share very similar ideas. The selfish architect, jealous of sharing his information with others, no longer exists; I think that is a thing of the past. Mexico is an incredible country, with a rich cultural, geographic and climatic richness, and with very friendly people. But there is also the other Mexico, with discrimination, corruption, and lack of access to services. Politics and the system have failed. Part of the current scene reflects these difficult times, in which we, Mexican architects, are more committed than ever. For me, being an architect does not mean just being a service provider. I visualise the architect as a public server working for and by the people. Most of the firms I have known, including ourselves, are very aware of the need to democratise architecture, which in the past was only for a few because there were not many architects interested in developing a more inclusive architecture.

Since graduating, I have been involved in social projects, which have helped me define my identity. My first significant collaboration was with a freelance architect working on social impact projects. This experience taught me the value of collective work and I understood that many architects can contribute from different perspectives, without having as a primary objective the search for individual recognition. A great team can create better architecture and for this reason in my firm, I always encourage collaboration. I have had the opportunity to collaborate with firms from other countries, where we look for open and constructive collaboration. I firmly believe that the goal of architecture is to change lives and to achieve this, we must put aside our ego and place less emphasis on individualistic authorship.

First challenges

VW: I graduated from the Universidad La Salle in Cuernavaca and, subsequently, I completed a diploma course in "Public Spaces and Safe Cities" at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. Since I was young I had the desire to work, and I began to have my first experiences during my career. I had the opportunity to collaborate with an architect who awakened my interest in urban planning, participative design, and the right to the city. It was in the field of urban planning that I found the ideologies and identity that I wanted to capture one day. After the diploma course at Iberoamericana, I decided to look for new academic opportunities. I always had in mind to study in Japan, so I applied for scholarships and universities. I won the Monbukagakusho: MEXT scholarship, a Japanese government program, which allowed me to study architecture and urban planning for two years in Japan. Upon my return, I worked in several firms in Mexico City before starting a master's degree. After completing my postgraduate degree, I started working in a construction company in Cuernavaca, where I had the opportunity to lead projects. I worked with them for about 3 or 4 years, but I got to the point where the projects no longer satisfied me as much; there was something that bothered me in the way certain situations were being handled and projects were being developed. It was then that I decided to become independent, driven by a feeling of being fed up with how big firms and construction companies carry out projects without looking for ways to democratise architecture. It was an impulsive decision that I do not regret. Suddenly, I found myself without clients or income, which made this first stage difficult, without the advantages that a stable job can provide. I was on my own, from home, and in this situation I decided to participate in a collective and social housing contest in Spain, where I was fortunate to win first place. Although the financial remuneration was not very high, it was enough to finance the opening of my firm. It was 2019, and I decided to invest the prize money to open the office. Soon after, I invited another architect who had worked with me at the construction company to be part of this new project.

Going against the trend

VW: Most of our projects, especially our urban projects, have focused on the context of Cuernavaca. Cuernavaca is a complex city in terms of its urban layout: it is what is defined as a broken plate, which creates numerous residual spaces. In addition, we face an urban policy with little social sense and little interest in improving public space. In Morelos, at least from my point of view, politics does not give the importance it should to public space. In general, in Mexico, public space tends to be privatised. Many times we find closed public spaces and, instead of keeping them accessible to everyone, they become private spaces for public use. In Cuernavaca, according to data, we have less than 1.7 square meters of public space per person, far below the 16 square meters recommended by the UN. Cuernavaca's hilly topography further complicates these projects.

We have also had the opportunity to intervene in public spaces through Infonavit. It is essential to collaborate with public institutions to move these projects forward. This is one of our greatest challenges. Working on the issue of public space in Mexico is very complicated: the government's tendency to promote privatisation instead of investing in public space should be a space for expression, diversity, and social cohesion. This is a fundamental aspect if we want to activate areas affected by insecurity and encourage local identity. Unfortunately, many governments prefer to privatise public space for their benefit, turning public areas into venues for political events or as a source of income.

Weaving networks

The first thing we must do as architects is to emphasise the need for public space. For both citizens and governments, it is crucial to understand that public space should not be seen as an extra or additional equipment in the city, but as something essential. When we approach a public space, our first steps include an exploratory walk, a photographic survey, and, above all, approaching community leaders. We have learned that we cannot simply arrive and make decisions without taking into consideration those who live in the territory: working with neighbourhood leaders is fundamental. These leaders convene assemblies where ideas are discussed and a dialogue is generated about the importance and necessity of the project for the well-being of the community. Participatory design is crucial in this process. It allows us to understand people's reality and perception, as well as their real needs about public space. It is through this process that we can design solutions that truly benefit the community.

In participatory design, it is possible to discover aspects that are not obvious to the naked eye, such as stories of violence or other problems that the community can share with us. This process allows us to better understand the initial context and how we might intervene. From the interaction with the people and leaders to the assemblies, it is crucial that the community is aware of and actively participates in all phases of the project. Once the process is advanced, we seek to secure the necessary funds to carry out the project. The community needs to be informed about who is involved in fundraising. In our projects, we have had the aid of solid institutions that support our initiatives and make the attainment of funds easier. However, so far we have not had the opportunity to intervene directly in more robust urban or architectural projects through foundations, although we have collaborated in activities to activate some public spaces promptly.

The right to the city

I grew up in Mexico City in social housing, facing numerous social problems and insecurity in public spaces, conflicts that affected me deeply since I was a child. I was always intrigued by how I could change this reality, and how I could transform my environment through my work. From a young age, I tended to imagine alternative spaces and worlds, but I also felt the need to make a real difference. I did not see this aspiration as a response to social resentment, where many seek to get out of poverty by vowing never to return to it. Although I had to go through times of economic fragility, that time brings back very happy memories. I always had the conviction of wanting to change things through my work, and when I became an architect, social issues and especially the concept of the right to the city became fundamental backbones for me. It is a topic that I am constantly exploring. Many people are unaware of the existence of the right to the city and how this actually influences people's daily lives. Much of the discourse of other architects focuses on the need to create beautiful architecture with complex rhetorical concepts. For me, conceptualising architecture is a process of geographically and culturally understanding people, but it also involves creating architecture that is accessible and relevant to a wide audience. I always refer to a phrase by Alejandro Aravena that struck me, when he talks about architecture as something dual: "Sometimes, a mantle, other times, a mirror". When well-designed, architecture can reflect a historical moment, a culture, or an identity. However, it should also be like a mantle: if it is well made, it goes unnoticed because it fulfils its function effectively. It should be functional and unobtrusive when well executed, but it can also become a distraction if poorly conceived. Unfortunately, architecture has long been associated with the ego of architects, as an ostentatious gesture to impress. This is something that, fortunately, is beginning to change. In my approach, I prefer to work on projects where architecture fulfils its purpose without needing to be an eye-catcher, but rather as an element that enriches and enhances people's lives in a subtle but meaningful way.

The street belongs to everyone

For me, one of the most important public spaces is the street. Ever since I was a child, I perceived the street as a vital public space, although it is often prioritised exclusively for cars, relegating pedestrians and cyclists. There are interesting public space projects that stand out for the active participation of the community, but the real success of these spaces lies in how people use them and make them their own. A brilliant design can remain empty or insecure if it does not integrate well with the social environment and local needs. Sometimes even well-designed projects face political or logistical obstacles that limit their impact and use. In my experience, streets are public spaces that we all naturally use and occupy. My reflections, although they may sound utopian, focus on how to transform streets into public spaces that are recreational and accessible to all. An example of this concept is our Urban Regeneration Plan project in the Ricardo Flores Magón neighbourhood here in Cuernavaca. This project was an extensive collaboration with the municipal government, social actors, Infonavit, and various organisations. For approximately two years, we worked on one of the main avenues in the neighbourhood, proposing to reduce vehicular space to widen sidewalks and promote commercial and recreational uses. Although we were able to implement initiatives such as temporary closures of the street to convert it into a public space on Sundays, we faced political challenges that limited the project's progress. However, this experience represents the closest we have come to converting a street into a public recreational and community space in Cuernavaca.

Diversified strategies

An important moment for the firm was the Temixco municipal building project, convened by the state government. This project marked a before and after for our firm. The competition originally sought a monumental four-story building for governmental functions. However, we decided to focus on creating an accessible and functional public space for the community. We divided the building into two lower sections, adapting to the urban profile of the city, which did not allow four-story buildings. Our proposal included an open plaza connected with different bridges, and designed for community activities such as concerts, sporting events, and artistic expressions. This innovative and participatory approach helped us win the national competition, even though there were only three of us working in the firm at the time. Since then, we have consolidated our collaboration with the government and remain committed to democratising architecture through projects that truly respond to the needs of local communities. We are very involved in participating in competitions. Throughout these first 4 or 5 years, the pandemic was a very complicated situation for us. At that time we were six or seven people in the firm, but when the pandemic came we had to reduce our team to two people, working from home. However, this time of reflection during the pandemic was crucial. I realised that sometimes we stayed in the office waiting for ideal projects or waiting for the government to give us something. It was at that point that we started getting much more involved with foundations and working on projects in underserved communities. We started offering pro bono design services as a way to help people through our projects. This strategy brought the government's attention back to us and we were able to involve Infonavit in some of our initiatives. At this time, we continue to work on a variety of projects, both private and governmental. We have participated in a contest for the reconstruction of Acapulco after the hurricane that devastated the area and fortunately we have won first place in this contest, which was called at an international level. We also have a private project to remodel an apartment in Panama City. We were recently hired by a construction company in Merida to design an urban complex with different typologies, housing, commercial, cultural, recreational, public spaces, among others. It is a large project of 202 hectares. On the other hand, we are working with two single-family housing projects for private clients, however, one of them has filled us with pride. It is a housing project for a Hindu couple with very particular personalities and ideals, located in the municipality of Tlayacapan, Morelos. We believe that this is what has enriched the project. A project that coexists and plays with its immediate landscape.

These are some of the projects and the different scales we usually work on in the office, which vary from public spaces, urban strategies, and housing in different parts of the country.

From private to public

In Mexico, there is a chamber called CMIC, the Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry, which has representation in each state. A few years ago, the CMIC of Morelos launched a competition to design their new offices in the state. We won that competition, a project that we were passionate about and found very interesting for several architectural reasons, and which was also awarded first place in the “Corporate” category in the National Architecture Award, given by the Association of Architects at the national level. Despite being a private project, we always focused on including elements of public space and democratising architecture. The topography of the site was rugged, with large rocks up to 4 or 5 meters high, which was impressive. We decided to integrate a concrete building that would reflect the essence of the Mexican construction industry and merge with these large natural rocks. We buried the building at street level, creating a large plaza from the entrance. This approach sought to make the building go unnoticed from the outside, offering instead panoramic views towards the city of Cuernavaca from the top floor or rooftop of the building, which became a large public space. As an anecdote, we included dinosaur figures in our concept diagrams, inspired by comments from the Speaker of the Chamber about building a large dinosaur. This vision not only played with the idea of a dinosaur in the plaza but also reinforced the concept of a space that could easily be transformed into a public place of expression and encounter. This project allowed us to merge our architectural principles with the possibility of making a private project to also contribute to the public and democratise.

Architecture, critical and political tool

I teach projects at La Salle University in Cuernavaca. I also write weekly articles on architecture and the city for the local newspaper La Unión de Morelos, published every Tuesday. Beyond that, I am very involved with foundations focused on public space and social impact. For example, I have collaborated with the Los Chocolates community center, a project of Mauricio Rocha, where we have organised a monthly open forum. This initiative brings architecture and urbanism to people outside our career, facilitating dialogues on specific topics selected and discussed with the community and other professionals. My contribution in the political sector began with the Regeneration Plan project, where we understood the importance of these efforts to improve our public spaces going hand in hand with politics. We have worked closely with socially committed congressmen and municipal presidents, and even with gubernatorial candidates. This collaboration has helped us to broaden the impact of our projects, facilitating access to resources and strategic guidance. Politics and architecture are intrinsically linked; it is not just about complying with bureaucratic regulations, but about influencing and transforming spaces in a meaningful way. I understand that politics is architecture and architecture is politics. This intersection allows me to not only facilitate complex processes but also to delve into challenging issues that require a multidimensional and collaborative approach.