Firm name: Productora
Location: Mexico City and Los Angeles
Year founded: 2006
Firm leadership: Carlos Bedoya, Wonne Ickx, Victor Jaime, and Abel Perles
Education: Ickx: University of Ghent, Belgium; Bedoya: Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City; Jaime: Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City; Perles: University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Experience: We all worked for firms before founding Productora, including Neutelings Riedijk Architects, Flores and Prats Architects, Fernando Romero Enterprise, TEN Arquitectos, Central de Arquitectura, and others
How founders met: Sharing a studio space in Mexico City doing small projects and competitions after our day jobs at other firms.
Firm size: 14
Mission:
Precise geometries, clear legibility, and timeless buildings.
First commission:
Our first realized project was the exhibition design for Francis Alÿs’ 2006 exhibition "Walking Distance From the Studio” in Mexico City. Since then, we have always been involved with the world of contemporary arts. We have currently an exhibition design at REDCAT in Los Angeles, showcasing the work of Argentine artist León Ferrari. We also just designed a retrospective exhibition on conceptual artist John Baldessari at the Museo Jumex in Mexico City.
Favorite project:
A proposal for the contemporary art museum in Lima, Peru. It was one of our first projects effectively working together as Productora.
Second favorite project:
The Teopanzolco Cultural Center in Cuernavaca, Mexico. This project is the result of a competition we won in 2015, which we finished together with a good friend and great architect, Isaac Broid.
Origin of firm name:
Many of our friends worked in the advertising, movie, or music industries and they always talked about their productora (“production house” in Spanish). So we used the term to name our studio. Later, we started to rephrase its meaning. We now say it is the production that drives the design process at Productora. Instead of analyzing, reflecting, theorizing, and dissecting, we propose the immediate production of architecture as a tool to investigate context and generate a design proposal.
Architecture heroes:
Too many to name. We are certainly interested in the third wave of modernists: a post-war generation of architects that were trained, or heavily influenced, by the early modernists, but already lived in a global environment in crisis. Their socio-political milieu—cultural changes related to the protests of 1968, oil crisis, urban decay—required them to rethink the way they operated and to take a fresh look at the existing environment; very similar to what is happening today. They include: Aldo Rossi, James Stirling, Robert Venturi, the New York Five, Kevin Roche, FAIA, and John Dinkeloo, Louis Kahn, Lina Bo Bardi, Alison and Peter Smithson, and Aldo van Eyck.
Modern-day architecture heroes:
Mauricio Pezo and Sofia von Ellrichshausen of Concepción, Chile–based Pezo von Ellrichshausen are a very strong contemporary references—as well as good friends and excellent architects.
We also closely follow many colleagues and young practices that are operating in Latin America, through the non-profit organization we started in 2011 with curator Ruth Estevez to promote Latin American architecture called LIGA, Space for Architecture. There are many excellent architects that have exhibited their work at LIGA: Adamo-Faiden from Argentina, Carla Juacaba and Tacoa from Brazil, Luis Callejas from Colombia, Umwelt from Peru, and MMX and Frida Escobedo from Mexico, just to name a few.
Special item in your studio space:
A basic stool we spray paint in a different color every year (it is silver now). Lapiz, our office dog (not really an item). Vic’s collection of weird materials (including spheres of Oaxacan black clay, solid aluminum cubes and silver coated ceramic tiles). A wooden model for an ongoing residential project, skillfully crafted by one of our carpenters. The mock-up for the tower model at the current Chicago Architecture Biennial.
Design tool of choice:
Physical models, red and blue BIC pen, Autocad
Design aggravation:
Spider (point-fixed) glass curtainwalls, curved reception desks, oval sinks, frosted glass, synthetic wooden decks, electric cooktops, retractable projection screens, glass parapets, infinity pools, recycled containers, color-changing LED lamps, granite countertops, domotics (home automation), freestanding bathtubs, chamfered corners, and many more things.
Memorable learning experience:
Our first project in Los Angeles and the opening of our office in Los Angeles made us understand the enormous impact that local construction habits and customs have on design. It required us to rethink our whole design and building process.
The best advice you have ever gotten:
Try to speak less and listen more—both literally and in the way you conceive your architectural projects. Visit a lot of architecture, from archaeological sites to recently finished buildings.
Biggest challenge in running a successful practice:
Building up a strong team of collaborators. A team can allow you to realize your designs, define the office energy, question projects, and create the work atmosphere, but it is an interesting challenge to establish a balanced group with different personalities, skills, and backgrounds.
What should architects be discussing right now?
Architects should come to terms with the fact that architecture is much more related to tradition than to innovation, especially in the way buildings are produced, in the way cities operate, and in the way communities have histories and customs. If we can understand that, a place for smart alternatives likely exists.
Skills to master:
Making tons of money.
Morning people or night owls?
Both.
