Gabriela Carrillo

In 2012 the architectural firm by Mauricio Rocha + Gabriela Carrillo developed the project of the San Pablo Academic and Cultural Center in the center of the city of Oaxaca, whose enclosure is located in what used to be the Monastery of Santo Domingo "San Pablo", built in the sixteenth century.

Part of the interventions consisted of releasing aggregates that had been made to the building and thus recovering spaces for better circulation within the building, such as patios, murals and corridors, among others. The work on a 700 m² glass pavilion that connects three levels stands out: the enclosure's library with its reading room, the administrative and management spaces, as well as an exhibition and archive area.[9]

This project included a stained glass window and exterior bars designed by the Oaxacan artist Francisco Toledo. The materials used in the enclosure such as wood and gray quarry seek to create a space where the historical value of the enclosure can be discussed with the contemporary, thus creating a discourse where a building is culturally revalued, and possibilities are created to be energized for new projects such as exhibitions, presentations and other cultural events. In this way, Carrillo contributes her architectural vision, where space goes hand in hand with esthetics, but also with a social function.

In 2013 Ciudadela's Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired opened, designed by Carrillo and Mauricio Rocha. Their design focused on including indirect lightning ideal for visual impaired people, as well as a focus on senses other than sight such as sound and smell. Sounds is specifically important as audiobooks are part of the collections, therefor sound-insulated booths were included. Carrillo said "Whether for the blind or the sighted, something we seek constantly, in any project, is silence."[10]

Since a law that includes oral trials was approved in 2008, they have tried to manage improvements in these processes in Mexico. This is how Gabriela Carrillo develops the project for the Courts of Pátzcuaro in Michoacán.

The building was built with stone from this region and incorporated wooden details. The design of its walls and lighting is inspired by two types of buildings. The first are Las Trojes, pre-Hispanic houses in the region of the Purépecha people of Angahuan; the second reference is the ceremonial space Tzin Tzun Tzan, which is reflected in the use of glass-transparency and holes that allow to create an atmosphere of spaciousness and freedom.

In this proposal for the use of space, Carrillo manifests her architectural poetics in which she has positioned architecture as a creative discipline and communicator of messages to create better conditions for coexistence. In this regard, she has expressed: “I think a lot about the limits, about how to break the public from the private (…) about how to frame or highlight the things that exist, whether it is a tree or a stone, about.

Gabriela Carrillo uses materials and light design to create messages and atmospheres that impact the way people communicate within these spaces. Therefore, for these Courts in Pátzcuaro, he has commented that he took special care in different aspects of design: “(...) how light deconstructs and builds a space, how transparency and open things generate democracy, how architecture begins let's talk... ”[11]

This project was recognized with the International Women in Architecture Award in 2017, which was also received in the same edition by Rozana Montiel.[12]

Tapachula Station is a 7200 square meter sport and cultural center in Tapachula, Mexico designed by the architectural design collective C733.[13] In 2005, Hurricane Stan irreparably damaged the regions rail infrastructure, rendering the station unusable.[13] As part of the Program for Urban Improvement implemented by SEDATU (Secretariat for Agrarian, Territorial, and Urban Development), the abandoned station was saved and repurposed.[13]