Arquitectura 911sc is an independent architectural practice established in 2002 by Saidee Springall and Jose Castillo, committed to architecture, urban design and planning projects. They have developed retail, housing, institutional, infrastructure and cultural projects. The firm has designed and built extensively for both public and private clients including the award-winning competitions for the expansion of the Spanish Cultural Center in Mexico City and the CEDIM School of Design and Architecture in Monterrey. In 2009, arquitectura 911sc was awarded the first prize in the public competition for a new Performing Arts Center in Guadalajara, Mexico. Construction for the 3-theater facility started in late 2010. Amongst other constructed projects, arquitectura 911sc has over 30 bookstores for the Mexican publishing house „Porrúa“, an apartment building in San Antonio Av in Mexico City, a 738 unit low-income housing development in Iztacalco, Mexico City and a renovation for the gallery Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros. Their urban planning work includes the Eje Central Zero Emissions Corridor and the Neza-Chimalhuacan bus rapid transit project, currently under construction. They are also developing, along Arup and JSa, a master plan for the former rail yard warehouses area in Azcapotzalco, Mexico City and have just finished a Master Plan focusing in public space renewal for the northwest area of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.
Jose Castillo Oléa
Is a practicing architect and urban planner living and working in Mexico City. Castillo holds a degree in architecture from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City as well as a Masters in architecture and a Doctor of Design degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. Castillo’s built work and writings have appeared in several publications including Praxis Journal, Bomb, 2G, Domus, Monocle, AD, Wallpaper, the New York Times and Architectural Record. He is a co-author in La Casa Latinoamericana Moderna and 2G Dossier Iberoamerica, published both by Gustavo Gili and the book The Endless City, published by Phaidon. Castillo has taught at the Universidad Iberoamericana’s School of Architecture, at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design and is now a visiting professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. Since 2005, Castillo has curated various exhibitions including Mexico City Dialogues: New Architectural Practices at the Center for Architecture in New York City in 2005 and at the Venice, Rotterdam, Sao Paulo, Canary Island Biennales as well as Mexican Modernisms at the Bozar in Brussels, Belgium. Castillo is member of the advisory board of Urban Age, a series of global conferences on the future of cities, coordinated by the Alfred Herrhausen Foundation of the Deutsche Bank and the London School of Economics.
Saidee Springall del Villar
Is a practicing architect living and working in Mexico City. Springall holds a degree in architecture from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City as well as a Masters degree in architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Prior to founding arquitectura 911sc Springall worked at Springall and Lira in Mexico City, as design leader for the award-winning CIDE building and the Elektra distribution Center. She also worked with Rafael Moneo in Madrid, Spain for the Houston Museum of Fine Arts project and with Sasaki and associates in Watertown. MA. Springall has been a fellow of the CONACYT and the FONCA in Mexico and has lectured in a number of Mexican Universities. She was awarded first prize and special mention by Arquitectura Magazine in the design competition for the Reforma-Chapultepec crossing in Mexico City. Her work has been published in Praxis Journal, 2G, Monocle, AD, Wallpaper, the New York Times and Reforma newspaper.