With 90+ categories and 300+ jurors, the Architizer A+Awards is the world’s definitive architectural awards program. In anticipation of the Awards Gala and Phaidon book launch on May 14, we are pleased to share the stories behind the winners of the 2015 Awards program — see all of them here.
Taller 6A won the 2015 A+Awards, Jury Choice, for the Libraries Category with The City of Books. This renovation of an 18th-century building includes a reading room, lecture hall, and educational facilities for children.
Your name: Bernardo Gómez-Pimienta, Alejandro Sánchez García
Firm name: Taller 6A
Location: Tacubaya Neighborhood, Mexico City
Education:
BGP: Bachelor of Architecture at Anahuac University, Master of Science in Architecture and Building Design at Columbia University, Doctor in Architecture at the Universidad Europea de Madrid
ASG: Bachelor of Architecture at Iberoamericana University
When did you decide that you wanted to be an architect?
BGP: It was not a decision, it was the only option. From as early as 10–12 years old, the only possibility was architecture — not only [in terms of] designing buildings, but all kind of three-dimensional elements, from furniture, to objects, and of course complete buildings, as well as the interiors.
ASG: I decided to be an architect when I realized that in this discipline you can imagine/design things that can be different… spaces, houses, streets, parks, buildings in general… and then they become reality. This emotional act — almost magic — [is like] realizing a dream.
What was your first architecture/design job?
BGP: A competition for a French Institute that, against all odds, we won. Then the budget disappeared and some three years later, they had a new budget, but by then, the structural codes had changed so dramatically that we had to redesign it from scratch. Eventually, the building was built.
ASG: I started my practice in Taller de Arquitectura X with Daniel Alvarez and Alberto Kalach. My first personal project was a house for an aunt.
Who is your design hero and/or what is your favorite building?
BGP: The Pantheon in Rome. It’s an amazing building that has survived for 2,000 years. Every time in Rome, I try to visit it at different times of day, and it’s always changing in unexpected ways with light.
ASG: Temple of Karnak in Egypt.
What do you find exciting about architecture and design right now?
BGP: The possibilities of the new technology, the new materials, and sometimes using traditional materials in different ways.
ASG: The power to transform the environment — cities, buildings, houses, etc., with a new consciousness and principles of doing things.
Tell us something that people might not know about your A+Award submission:
BGP: The Minister of Culture asked me and Alejandro Sanchez to team up together and work on the huge 300,000-square-foot 18th-century building. We knew each other a little, and in the process, we became very good friends.
Other than your computer (or phone), what is your most important tool?
BGP: My pen and Moleskine. When you travel and have a camera, you end your trip with several thousand photos, and you will not see them ever. But the big problem is that, [since you were so busy taking photos] you did not see the building, either. When you take your time and do a fast sketch, you have to see what you have in front of you — its proportion, rhythm, etc.… and you understand it. It will stick to your memory. Having a Moleskine in your hand becomes a habit, and somehow a few years later, you end up having filled some 130 of them.
ASG: My most important tools are my eyes, my ears, my senses in general. But most important is my spiritual perception of the spaces.
Outside of architecture, where do you look for inspiration?
BGP: In food and poetry.
ASG: My family: my wife, my two daughters, and my baby boy.
Who would be your dream client and why?
BGP: Most of my clients have been dream clients — open to new ideas and ready to experiment.
ASG: Architecture for me is a dream come true. Any client fits this category.
See all of the 2015 A+Award Winners here and all of the Winner Q+A’s here.