The We Co.—the parent company of WeWork—has added another architecture star to its roster. Announced in a press release today, Mexican architect Michel Rojkind has joined the growing co-working, co-living, co-exercising, and co-educating giant as the senior vice president of architecture and will work closely with We's chief architect Bjarke Ingels, who has served an an adviser to the company since last year.
In this role, Rojkind will be responsible for all ground-up projects, beginning with a 200,0000-square-foot building in Bentonville, Ark.—one of the first projects of its type for We. Groundbreaking is scheduled for 2020.
"[Rojkind's] vision has always been to go beyond functionality to create integral experiences, connecting the intricacies of each project at a deeper level to positively impact society and the environment, which aligns seamlessly with WeWork’s design ethos," the firm said in the same release.
Rojkind founded his eponymous Mexico City firm in 2002 and has since been recognized for his work in Mexico, Canada, Kuwait, China, Dubai, Singapore, and Spain. He has served as a lecturer at the Southern California Institute of Architecture in L.A. and the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia in Barcelona. In 2013, Rojkind was called "one of the most influential Mexican architects of the contemporary scene" in Forbes Mexico. In 2014, his Liverpool Department Store - Insurgentes project was recognized in ARCHITECT magazine's Progressive Architecture Awards.
