Built on Craft

From Architectural Record’s 2019 Innovation Conference
Presented by Michel Rojkind, Founding Partner, Rojkind Arquitectos

Learning Objectives:

  1. Illustrate how firms can engage advanced technology and design without their projects losing a sense of "craft."
  2. Offer scenarios in which architecture can be used to connect with the community.

Credits:

AIA
0.5 AIA LU/Elective
This test is no longer available for credit

In an era when innovation threatens the art of craft, Mexico City‑based Rojkind Arquitectos practices a design approach that explores the marriage of these two things. Founding Partner Rojkind will discuss how he straddles the worlds of technology and time-honored techniques to design buildings—from smaller scale residential and retail projects to larger, civic institutions—that draw on tradition as they look to the future.


Michel Rojkind founded Rojkind Arquitectos in Mexico City in 2002. The firm quickly gained international recognition for its innovation at a range of scales, from product design to large civic buildings. Through his practice, Rojkind strives to design compelling architecture and urban-planning solutions that go beyond mere functionality to become integral experiences that have a positive impact on society and the environment. Rojkind lectures internationally, and has been a visiting professor at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles, the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IACC) in Barcelona, the University of Pennsylvania, and Aalto University, in Finland. He has been named as one of the “300 most in influential Mexican Leaders” by Mexican Leaders magazine and called one of one of the “Country’s Treasured Architects” by the Mexican Civil Registry. In 2019, Rojkind joined the We Company as senior vice president of architecture, leading all of WeWork construction projects—a role he fulfills while continuing to run his practice in Mexico.

 

Originally published in December 2019

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