Sep 10th 2015

Cloud Talk: Jose Castillo on Mexico City

Jose Castillo, Principal, Arquitectura 911sc, Mexico City
, delivered a Cloud Talk, supported by SOM, on Mexico City on Fri., Sept. 11 @ 2:00 p.m. in S. R. Crown Hall, Lower Center Core.

Jose Castillois a practicing architect and urban planner living and working in Mexico City. Castillo holds a degree in architecture from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City as well as a Masters in architecture and a Doctor of Design degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.

Alongside Saidee Springall he founded arquitectura 911sc, an independent practice based in Mexico City. Among their built projects are the expansion of the Spanish Cultural Center, the renovation of the Siqueiros Public Art Gallery, the García Terres Personal Library in the City of Books, all in Mexico City, and the CEDIM campus in Monterrey. Currently under construction is the Churubusco Film Labs and Producers Building in Mexico City, as well as the competition-winning Guadalajara's Performing Arts Center.

arquitectura 911sc recently finished a 750-unit low-income housing development in Iztacalco, Mexico City, project which was awarded the 2011 National Housing Award. Their urban planning work includes master plans in Mexico City, Hidalgo and Ciudad Juárez as well as two transportation corridors in Mexico City. Among the firm’s recognitions are a 2012 Emerging Voices award from the Architectural League of NY, as well as the Bronze Award in the Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction Latin America. The work and research of arquitectura 911sc has been showcased at Sao Paulo, Rotterdam and Venice Biennales, at the exhibition Dirty Work at Harvardʼs GSD in 2008 and in the traveling exhibition Our Cities Ourselves at the Center for Architecture in NYC.

Castillo’s built work and writings have appeared in several publications. He has contributed as an author in La Casa Latinoamericana Moderna and 2G Dossier Iberoamerica, published both by Gustavo Gili, in the book The Endless City, edited by Ricky Burdett and Deyan Sudjic and published by Phaidon as well as in the book Reinventing Construction published by Ruby Press in 2011. Castillo has taught and lectured at various academic and cultural institutions. He currently teaches in at the Universidad Iberoamericana’s in Mexico City and at Harvardʼs Graduate School of Design.

He has also curated exhibitions for the Venice, Rotterdam and Sao Paulo Biennales, as well as the show Mexican Modernisms at the Bozar in Brussels and Mexico City Dialogues at the Center for Architecture in New York City. Castillo is currently a fellow of the Mexican National Endowment for the Arts (Fonca) artists program with a research project based on Food, Eating and Cities, a member of the Mexican National Academy of architecture and part of the advisory board of LSE Cities.