The 2024 Obel Award has just been announced, crowning 36x36 by Colectivo C733 in Mexico its winner. A true collective formed by the offices of architects Gabriela Carrillo (Taller Gabriela Carrillo), Carlos Facio y José Amozurrutia (TO), Eric Valdez (Labg) and Israel Espin, Colectivo C733 sits at the forefront of community work in their country. Their winning scheme is, in fact, 36 projects – a grouping of public works designed with the community, instead of simply for them, the jury points out.
2024 Obel Award winner: 36x36 by Colectivo C733, Mexico
The collective's joint efforts were hailed as important and innovative in challenging conventional mindsets by the Obel Award's panel of judges, which was formed by architects and specialists in the field, including Sumayya Vally of Counterspace, Kjetil Trædal Thorsen of Snøhetta and DNA Design and Architecture's Xu Tiantian.
The jury said, 'The strength of the collective partly lay in the fact that, by designing together, “with” a constantly fluctuating roster of stakeholders, and while utilising shared skills and resources, they were able to bring together 30 architects and a multidisciplinary team of consultants, learning to compress a process that previously could have taken years into just a few months — something practically unheard of by today’s industry standards.'
Last year's 2023 Obel Award went to landscape studio Scape and its founder Kate Orff for their Living Breakwaters project – an inspiring ecosystems-driven piece of green infrastructure design off the shore of Staten Island in New York.
This year, the jury wrote in its statement: '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.'
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