(“Text as taken from the website”)
Javier Sánchez
Architect Javier Sánchez graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico with honors (1996) and with a master’s degree in Sciences and Development of Real Estate Projects from Columbia University, New York (1998). In 1996 he founded the JSa Architecture Workshop, a key office in the renewal of Mexico City, whose work has focused on urban acupuncture projects and recovery of architectural heritage.
His recognitions include the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale (2006) for the social housing project Brasil 44; the Best New Global Design recognition from the Chicago Athenaeum (2007) for the Condesa DF hotel; the Gold Medal of the National Biennial of Mexican Architecture (2020) by the MMAC Juan Soriano; and recently, the Housing Award from the American Institute of Architects (2022) for the Casa Cosecha de Lluvia project (in collaboration with RHA).
In 2008 he was elected Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA); in 2009 he entered the National System of Art Creators of the System of Support for Creation and Cultural Projects (previously known as FONCA); and since 2011 he has been a member of the National Academy of Architecture. In 2014 he was invited to teach the Federico E. Mariscal Extraordinary Chair at the UNAM Faculty of Architecture, in recognition of his outstanding and high level of performance in the architectural discipline.
Aisha Ballesteros
Architect Aisha Ballesteros graduated from the Universidad Iberoamericana (2000) with a Master’s Degree in 21st Century Housing from the Universidad Iberoamericana and the Polytechnic University of Catalunya (2012).
In 2007 she joined the JSa team, and in 2011 she was named partner. As part of the workshop, he has led cultural projects such as the Carlos Monsiváis Personal Library within the ‘José Vasconcelos’ Library of Mexico, the assembly of the JSa exhibition for the Federico E. Mariscal Extraordinary Chair at UNAM, and the Morelense Museum of Contemporary Art Juan Soriano. In parallel, he has contributed to the development of the contemporary Mexican gastronomic scene with internationally renowned projects such as Pujol, Criollo, Ticuchi, and Salón Rosetta.
His recognitions include the Silver Medal from the Mexico City Architecture Biennial (2013) for the Carlos Monsiváis Personal Library; the Gold Medal of the National Biennial of Mexican Architecture (2020) and the Gold Medal of the Mexico City Architecture Biennial (2019), both for the MMAC Juan Soriano cultural project.
Benedikt Fahlbusch
Architect Benedikt Fahlbusch graduated from the Technical University of Berlin, Germany, with a Master’s Degree in Architecture from the same institution (2003) with a line of research dedicated to the revitalization of the Historic Center of Mexico City.
In 2004 he joined the JSa team, and in 2011 he was named partner. Since then, he has been in charge of institutional projects such as the new headquarters of the Mexican Center for Philanthropy (CEMEFI) and heritage intervention for the Center for Legality and Justice. Simultaneously, he has conceived high-density housing projects such as María Ribera y Pedre; and has promoted the development of the tourism scene in Mexico with comprehensive hospitality projects such as The Cape – a Thompson Hotel, NAYA, NAYAMA and Casa Blake in Costa Palmas.
His recognitions include multiple first places in competitions such as The Cape – a Thompson Hotel, María Ribera, and the new CEMEFI offices. Additionally, he has been nominated for the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) (2016) by María Ribera; distinguished with honorable mention at the National Biennial of Mexican Architecture (2012) for the Center for Legality and Justice project; and received the 2nd International Prize of the Pan-American Architecture Biennial of Quito (2018) for the María Ribera rehabilitation and recycling project.
Irvine Torres
Architect Irvine Torres graduated cum laude from the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico (2001), obtaining in parallel the Medal of Academic Excellence awarded by the College of Architects and Landscape Architects of Puerto Rico.
In 2006 he joined the JSa team, and in 2010 he assumed management of the workshop’s new office in Lima, Peru, to monitor clients and local projects. His recognitions include the Henry Adams Design Medal (2001) from the American Institute of Architects (AIA), an institute of which he is a member, and the Silver Medal from the National Biennial of Mexican Architecture (2010) for the residential project El 22.
Practice Ideology
Unlike a factory whose gears and serial products are ordered and systematized automatically, the team works on collective processes with coexistence strategies at different scales. A continuous cycle of learning, research, urban approaches, architectural projects, and value propositions for their clients.
Since 1996, they have promoted the vision of a city that reconverts, rehabitates, restores, reoccupies, and rehabilitates its urban fabric through specific and comprehensive architectural interventions. They learn from the context, act pragmatically, and adapt to social, urban, and environmental changes. They take a position with respect to the ways of life in cities and environments to inhabit again and reuse in the simplest, most uninhibited, and true way, with the certainty that the spaces we inhabit, rather than undergoing reforms or demolitions, must reconfigure the way of using and relating.
With that conviction as a premise, they have promoted more than 150 projects of various types built in Mexico and abroad and received more than 100 national and international awards.
