36x36 by Colectivo C733 wins the 2024 Obel Award

By Editorial Staff - 8 October 2024

The 36x36 project by Colectivo C733, has won the 2024 Obel Award, an international architecture prize awarded annually by the Henrik Frode Obel Foundation. Themed Architecture With, this year’s award invited entrants to explore the plurality of architecture through a non-hierarchical approach to collective design and community involvement. 36x36 by Colectivo C733, Messico © Albers Studio, courtesy of Obel Award

The winning project includes plazas, museums, schools, cultural centers, supermarkets, and sports facilities, for a total of 36 public works, completed in as many months between 2019 and 2022, throughout Mexico.

A response to a SEDATU initiative (the Mexican Ministry of Agrarian, Land, and Urban Development), the 36x36 project has revitalized vulnerable urban and rural areas throughout Mexico through its collaborative and community-centered approach. 36x36 by Colectivo C733, Messico © Albers Studio, courtesy of Obel Award

Colectivo C733 comprises architects Gabriela Carrillo (Taller Gabriela Carrillo), Carlos Facio, José Amozurrutia (TO), Eric Valdez (Labg), and Israel Espin. The collective came together to develop projects that address complex social, political, environmental, and economic constraints. Its key strength is the team approach that the five architects set up. In fact, the 36x36 project saw the involvement of 30 architects and a multidisciplinary team of consultants. Working together, they completed in just 36 months a process that would normally have taken several years. 36x36 by Colectivo C733, Messico © Rafael Gamo, courtesy of Obel Award

Flexibility, modularity, and efficiency are all key elements of this broad-based project inspired by Eladio Dieste’s innovative ideas. A Uruguayan engineer who worked in Latin America, Dieste distinguished himself for the innovative techniques he introduced, especially in terms of construction speed and cost-effectiveness.

«Colectivo C733 exemplifies the power of collective action and collaborative design to rapidly respond to urgent urban needs. Their ability to transform 36 communities through thoughtful, resource-efficient, and dignified architectural interventions is a blueprint for future public works projects worldwide».

Excerpt from Jury Statement

36x36 by Colectivo C733, Messico © SEDATU, courtesy of Obel Award

Obel Award, addressing the challenges of the present and future

The Obel Award is an international architecture prize awarded annually by the Copenhagen-based Henrik Frode Obel Foundation. The award recognizes and celebrates architectural projects that promote social and ecological development on a global level through creative ideas for solving the urgent problems facing the planet.

Every year, the jury chooses a different theme to stimulate exchange on current issues, drawing attention to the importance and fragility of our societies and our built environment. The award therefore aims to identify architectural projects that address the challenges of the present and future. 2024 Obel Award Jury Courtesy of Obel Award

Obel Award 2024 jury

The jury of the Obel Award 2024 comprises chair Kjetil Trædal Thorsen (co-founder of Snöhetta), Nathalie de Vries (founding partner of MVRDV, Rotterdam), Louis Becker (design principal and partner at Henning Larsen, Denmark), Dr Wilhelm Vossenkuhl (professor emeritus of philosophy), Xu Tiantian (founding principal of DnA, Beijing), Aric Chen (general and artistic director of the Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam), and Sumayya Vally (founder and principal of Counterspace).

>>> Discover also Living Breakwaters, the SCAPE studio project for the Staten Island coast, winner of the 2023 Obel Award 2023, themed Adaptation