Estudio MMX
Diego Ricalde & Ignacio del Río
Diego Ricalde (DR) and Ignacio del Río (IdR) are two of the four founders of Estudio MMX. Established in 2010. Opening to all scales of urban designs, Estudio MMX works on proposals that range from installation designs to architectural and urbanism developments, approaching each new project as a unique challenge posed by the particular physical, economic, political, and social context. In this interview, Diego Ricalde & Ignacio del Río reflect on their resiliency in the early years, turning crises into opportunities. They explain the reasons behind their preference for 3D models and diagrams as a communicational tool, the absence of a focus on a set style, and their adherence to a horizontal design structure.
“Crises are also like an opportunities and we decided to begin this project... We came together and start building this thing we had talked about either in the offices we were working in or the parties we were drinking out and yeah that was how it, how we started.”
How did you meet?
Diego Ricalde (DR): Emmanuel, Ignacio, and I met at the university. We were studying together from the first year to the last year. We were friends. At the parties, we dreamed of one day making something together and that idea was all the time in the background. And then, as I said, we met in a way, not in time, but in terms of origin, so to speak, no architectural origin where we work, etc.. So we met in that way in these offices. We were abroad in 2008, 2009 with the crisis.
Ignacio del Río (IdR): Crises are also like an opportunity, and we decided to begin this project.
DR: We came together and started building this thing we had talked about either in the offices we were working in or the parties we were drinking out and that was how it started.
What were your first projects?
DR: Our first commissions or projects came especially through two ways. One was competitions. We knew that if we wanted to call the space, we needed to make competitions and win some of them. And that's what happened, fortunately. And it was also because of the help of colleagues and friends, people that we had worked with before going abroad, and so on. And then they knew that we were back. And then they asked us to get associated with them. And also the first competition we won, we were invited by other colleagues. So we were lucky to have this net of friends and colleagues. We continue making competitions. The idea of competition has also changed over time. They can also use the tool of competition in very destructive way, so we are critical again about it and we try to operate in the best possible way with competitions, but we still do them and I guess we will continue to do them, especially international ones, because transcending the national borders is not that easy.
Museo de Geología - Image by Dane Alonso
Would you expand on how competitions have changed since then?
DR: In Mexico, it's become a new way of exploiting the work of architects and the value of that work with the minimal conditions, work conditions. And because of the lack of opportunities, many times we accept that or because you need to have a certain project in your portfolio, whatever. And that happens a little bit everywhere. But that diminishes the value of architecture and the capacity to come up with new ideas or explore things in different ways.
What moments in your practice were breaking points or dilemmas without apparent positive outcomes?
IdR: We had these like breaking points or, or special events, like a great beginning and then it came this very difficult point, in which we were not like big team, but we had like started to grow and then we have to set back to the minimum again and kind of start again.
“Everybody is important in this office, but also these ex-workers that now have become kind of associates that have worked here, that have another new offices as their own practices, etc..”
Which design processes or methods have you refined over the years to structure the work in your practice?
DR: Two dimensional representations have two problems that overlap. One is manipulation. We can manipulate a lot, the drawing, in order to convey an idea that might not be there—looks like a concrete thing, but it has a lot of abstract construction into it from a plan or a sketch to a render. And then on top of that there is interpretation. These two things overlap and that might create a lack of communication, of clear communication. Whereas models—we always say, and that's why you see all these models here—is something that allow us four and all the team that work with us to see, to be sure that we are all looking at the same thing. When you see a model, you see what you see. And then there is also what we call diagrams, at the nineties, beginning of the 2000, some drawings that make clear to us what are the basic principles. And then there is this moment and those are these kind of 3D representations are actually models of those diagrams you will see in our book. We also have these kind of summary drawing incorporates all the discussions we have had up to a certain point, and then we decide that from there the project can continue. Each project goes through that process once and again.
How do you four share roles and responsibilities within the company, who does what?
DR: At the very beginning we said we're going to be an office focuses on design. And the four of us will be designing everything because that's why we decided to work together because we all like architecture. We all like design to be very democratic and horizontal, and then everybody is going to do everything. And so everybody was doing models and everybody was meeting with the clients and most everybody was designing, etc.. Through time, these roles have naturally decanted in different things that we do better. And of course there is somebody that does more administrative things, more legal things, more public relationship, educational things, etc.. We like to keep thinking of them as peripheral things that are contingent to what we do. We keep pushing to find time to participate, to keep participating in the design phase, or at least the first conceptual, diagrammatic, modeling phase where we all together decide where this project is going to go, what the ideas going to be, etc… And then from there one of us leads the project, depending on if we know the client or if somebody has a lot of work already, and then somebody else takes the project.
How many people are working with you today? Besides you four, who are the other main people in your organization today?
IdR: 16 plus the four of us, like from the beginning with the four of us, we like very horizontal structure and we like to like to maintain that in the whole team. So there are, of course, some persons that have been working with us, like, more time or more experience and we kind of get this special support with them. I mean they are key elements to us [as] all the rest of the team are also here because in this idea horizontal structure that we like to promote, every single part is as important as the other.
DR: Everybody is important in this office, but also these ex-workers that now have become kind of associates that have worked here, that have another new offices as their own practices, etc. and we kind of replicate that structure from where we come from, with then and so now they have become also important actors of the office even though they are, they're no longer here.
Jardín Cuauhtémoc - Image Credits Dane Alonso
“we don’t necessarily focus on stylistic, either qualities, or capacities or interests, because from the very beginning we don’t believe in style. We think that style is something that keeps you a prisoner and doesn’t allow you to move and to respond to different challenges.”
Which personal qualities have helped you get to where you are today?
DR: Mexico has been in a constant crisis, so we don't it's difficult to identify one particular moment in history when you say “this was really bad.” We as Mexicans, probably we have developed a way to navigate through this situation that is never-ending specifically for architectural practice. This uncertainty or this instability, projects come and go. They start, they stop clients that disappear. They don't pay or whatever. So you, as a studio, you have to deal with all this uncertainty and you have to develop a way to be resilient about that. And even though it may not be healthy to finance a project with the money of another one, you have to have all these in-between strategies in terms of organization and in terms of finance, in order to be able to cope with the work. Sometimes there's this constant fine-tuning that is a very delicate equilibrium that you have to be searching all the time.
Which character traits do you look for the most in people you hire, reliability, talent…?
IdR: We don't look at specific profiles because we don't have that. We don't look for people who makes great renders or great models because everybody works in everything. So we're looking more like an attitude and a way of working.
DR: We look for affinities with people, that’s why the interview is so important. For example we want to see somebody that is able to communicate clearly to not take things personal to keep a professional even though it might be harsh. Sometimes to keep a professional communication level, those things might be more important than other sets of skills that you may have. Then we incorporate those set of skills, we give back our methodology, the skills we have developed over time within the studio so that it’s a little bit fair in terms of what you give and what you get.
IdR: Who is willing to work in a team, as a part of a team, willing and is able to participate in different kind of activities and also in different stages of the project. We work in a conceptual phase or in competitions, but also in the development and construction documents.
DR: And we don't necessarily focus on stylistic, either qualities, or capacities or interests, because from the very beginning, we don't believe in style. We think that style is something that keeps you a prisoner and doesn't allow you to move and to respond to different challenges.
DPS Apartments - Image by Rafael Gamo
“There is no single project that doesn’t have a precedent. There’s always a precedent and it’s not necessarily an architectural precedent. Sometimes it’s an ecological precedent or a historical one, or sometimes it’s a mix of financial precedent with experiential precedent.”
What kinds of experiences would you like people to have in your projects?
DR: Go through the history of the place, of course, the culture of the place, the materials of the place, the weather conditions, sort of, I don't know if there are hurricanes or not, if there is humidity or not, how it changes through time. And if the project actually respond to those things, then the project is talking through architecture and through space of the site. And that makes a place, particularly in the geology museum, it tries to mimic in a way the construction heritage of the place. It talks about the organism of the Yucatan Peninsula in the colonial era of our country. It allows air to go through the building because there are hurricanes there. There is the sea in front of it. So these terraces are supposed to be observation platforms to enjoy the views to the sea. It talks about the heat of the place. So we created this very high volumes that project diagonal produce shadows even though they are not covered. So you're in an open space, but it's shaded by like the volumes. But in the night, then when there is no more all this heat of the day and you can go on top of the building to enjoy the fresh air that comes from the from the sea. To convey architecture through architecture, and through this spatiality that this architecture creates instead of of forcing a discourse into a project.
What are your inspirations?
DR: Three of us have parents that were architects. There is this knowledge of like inherited knowledge and experiences, many references always. There is no single project that doesn't have a precedent. There's always a precedent and it's not necessarily an architectural precedent. Sometimes it's an ecological precedent or a historical one, or sometimes it's a mix of financial precedent with experiential precedent. I don't know. These particular moments and elements can come from so many places and in so many different combinations. Those references and those interests are changing all the time.
Casa CBC - Image by Rafael Gamo
