TATIANA BILBAO
Tatiana Bilbao 2017 ( Image by Alberto Giuliani )
“I’m not going to debate the beauty [of a building] , but I’m always going to debate whether that beauty serves the people that are intended to inhabit the space.”
Tatiana Bilbao Spamer is a Mexican architect whose innovative practice focuses on sustainable construction and social housing, using local resources and materials as much as possible. Merging her sometimes brutalist design approach with nature and natural environments has established her unique design style, as illustrated by the Bioinnova university building in Mexico, pictured above (image by Adam Wiseman for the New York Times).
Bilbao was born in 1972 in Mexico City, the largest city in Mexico and the most populous city in North America. Her grandfather—Tomás Bilbao, Minister of Urban Development for the Spanish government—took his family to Mexico after the rise of Franco’s fascist dictatorship in 1939. Bilbao was interested in architecture from a young age. When she was given a Barbie doll as a present, she didn’t play with it, but instead built a city for it to live in. After finishing high school, she briefly relocated to Milan to study industrial design, but quickly realized architecture was her passion. Returning to Mexico, she took up a place at the Universidad Iberoamericana , graduating in Architecture and Urbanism in 1996.
Bilbao became increasingly influenced by a group of early South American modernists that included the Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi—at the time, one of the rare women in architectural history to run her own firm—whose bold and daring designs in concrete and glass were instilled with positivity.
In 2004, Bilbao opened her own studio in order to effectively integrate social values into her work. “We can’t forget that housing is a human right,” she said. “Houses are not just for sale. Houses are for people, and we have to think of them first.”
Her first major architectural project was a collaboration with artist Gabriel Orozco, on his beach house near Puerto Escondido. The unique structure, “Observatory House,” blended into the surrounding environment, topped with a stunning pool on the roof. The design was inspired by the Jantar Mantar Astronomical Observatory, built in Jaipur in the early 18 th century. Partnerships became key in her work in this period, and in the next few years she collaborated with a number of other artists on projects in China, Spain, and at home in Mexico.
Bilbao’s design philosophy is to “localize” a project as much as possible. Raw materials sourced nearby, a workforce drawn from within the local economy, and a building that not only fulfills its human needs, but also functions economically and effectively according to the local climate, weather, and environment.
“I think that is what roots us to Mexico. I also think that for me that’s going back to the principles of architecture; of understanding that it’s making places and spaces by people for people.”
Bilbao’s projects are part of the collection of the Centre d’Art George Pompidou in Paris, France, the Carnegie Museum of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. She lives and works in the Cuauhtémoc district of Mexico City.
“Architecture only exists when it is built. If it stays on paper it’s not architecture.”
HAPPENING
Tuesday, October 26, from 9am–12:30pm
Big Brush Painting Workshop
With Joe Gallant
Paint large! Experience the fun, freedom, and spontaneity of using large inexpensive brushes to create paintings. Using big brushes and water-mixable oil or acrylic paints, create your own seascape or landscape painting that just might become a focal point in your home or office!
Suitable for beginner and intermediate painters.
$75 – Member, $90 – Non-Member
