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19-08-2005, 15:57
Enrique Norten, principal architect of TEN Arquitectos, has created a body of work that attempts to address immediate issues of contextuality and permeability while responding to broader questions of inhabitation. In the words of the architect, "The architecture of our generation sits on the intersection where global and unique, universal and specific collide." Additionally, Norten and TEN Arquitectos explore issues of flexibility, customization, modulation of surface conditions, and metropolitan revitalization through projects that range in scale from furniture to residences to urban design.
Norten was born in Mexico City in 1954. After receiving his first professional degree from the Universidad Iberoamericana in 1978, he obtained a Masters of Architecture from Cornell in 1980. In 1985, he established TEN (Taller de Enrique Norten) Arquitectos in Mexico City; a second office was opened in New York in 2001. Norten was a founding member of the magazine Arquitectura.
Norten's work within Mexico is cited as a combination of local architectural traditions, technological innovations, and experimentation with built form. The Hotel Habita project was a transformation of a rundown five-story building into a luxury hotel in the Polanco district of Mexico City. The hotel is notable for its lavish rooftop facilities, which break with city custom to use the roof as public space, and a glass façade of varying translucency, by which the architects created a set of framed views of the nearby cityscape. In designing the gymnasium for the Educare School in Zapopan, TEN Arquitectos created a system by which the building could respond to climate conditions. The gym's exterior is made up of a skin of metal panels that open and close according to wind, heat, and humidity; this structure both allows changes in ventilation and creates an infinitely variable surface texture. TEN Arquitectos' Mixed-Use Building for Televisa, the Mexican broadcasting giant, is known for its distinct shape: corporate offices and business spaces are encased in a giant curved metal sheath that operates as both ceiling and wall. TEN Arquitectos' other widelyrecognized projects in Mexico include the Museum of Natural History, the National School of Theater, and the French Institute of Mexico.
In recent years, TEN Arquitectos has won acclaim for many of its international projects. The Princeton Parking Garage Structure won a Gold Medal at the AIA in 2002, and the firm is currently at work on a hotel project in Budapest. TEN Arquitectoswas recently commissioned to design the Brooklyn Visual and Performing Arts Library, a project that is meant to create a community center and bring cultural revival to the surrounding neighborhood. Each floor is color coded by programmatic use, so that the Library's functions, visible through the glass façade, are advertised outward. The structure is meant to be a both an educational facility and a social gathering place by incorporating a theater, restaurant, and art galleries into the building.
Norten has been honored with a great number of awards, including the 1990 Architecture Prize of the National Fund for the Arts, the 1998 Mies Van der Rohe award for Latin America, and the 2000 National Creator System Grant. In 2002, the World Architecture Awards recognized Hotel Habita as Latin American Building of the Year. Norten has taught at numerous institutions of higher learning, including the Universidad Iberoamericana, Parsons School of Design, Pratt Institute, Harvard, Rice, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Norten was born in Mexico City in 1954. After receiving his first professional degree from the Universidad Iberoamericana in 1978, he obtained a Masters of Architecture from Cornell in 1980. In 1985, he established TEN (Taller de Enrique Norten) Arquitectos in Mexico City; a second office was opened in New York in 2001. Norten was a founding member of the magazine Arquitectura.
Norten's work within Mexico is cited as a combination of local architectural traditions, technological innovations, and experimentation with built form. The Hotel Habita project was a transformation of a rundown five-story building into a luxury hotel in the Polanco district of Mexico City. The hotel is notable for its lavish rooftop facilities, which break with city custom to use the roof as public space, and a glass façade of varying translucency, by which the architects created a set of framed views of the nearby cityscape. In designing the gymnasium for the Educare School in Zapopan, TEN Arquitectos created a system by which the building could respond to climate conditions. The gym's exterior is made up of a skin of metal panels that open and close according to wind, heat, and humidity; this structure both allows changes in ventilation and creates an infinitely variable surface texture. TEN Arquitectos' Mixed-Use Building for Televisa, the Mexican broadcasting giant, is known for its distinct shape: corporate offices and business spaces are encased in a giant curved metal sheath that operates as both ceiling and wall. TEN Arquitectos' other widelyrecognized projects in Mexico include the Museum of Natural History, the National School of Theater, and the French Institute of Mexico.
In recent years, TEN Arquitectos has won acclaim for many of its international projects. The Princeton Parking Garage Structure won a Gold Medal at the AIA in 2002, and the firm is currently at work on a hotel project in Budapest. TEN Arquitectoswas recently commissioned to design the Brooklyn Visual and Performing Arts Library, a project that is meant to create a community center and bring cultural revival to the surrounding neighborhood. Each floor is color coded by programmatic use, so that the Library's functions, visible through the glass façade, are advertised outward. The structure is meant to be a both an educational facility and a social gathering place by incorporating a theater, restaurant, and art galleries into the building.
Norten has been honored with a great number of awards, including the 1990 Architecture Prize of the National Fund for the Arts, the 1998 Mies Van der Rohe award for Latin America, and the 2000 National Creator System Grant. In 2002, the World Architecture Awards recognized Hotel Habita as Latin American Building of the Year. Norten has taught at numerous institutions of higher learning, including the Universidad Iberoamericana, Parsons School of Design, Pratt Institute, Harvard, Rice, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania.