Architect Hector Mendoza to Present 'From Competition to Completion' Lecture on Dec. 1

Photo Submitted

In 2011, MX_SI architectural studio won the international competition for the extension of the Serlachius Museums Gosta in Mantta, Finland, a competition with 579 entries from 42 countries. It opened to the public in June. (Photo courtesy MX_SI)

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Hector Mendoza will present a lecture, titled “From Competition to Completion: Serlachius Museum Gösta Extension,” at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 1, in Ken and Linda Sue Shollmier Hall, Room 250 of Vol Walker Hall, on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville, as part of the Fay Jones School of Architecture lecture series.

Mendoza graduated as an architect from ITESO University in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1997. He received his Master of Architecture and Urbanism at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London in 2000. In 2005, he obtained his doctorate at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona, where he currently works as a professor in the Architectural Representation and Visual Analysis Department.

Mendoza is a principal and co-founder of MX_SI architectural studio, located in Barcelona, Spain. The studio was established in 2005, upon receiving the first prize for the international design competition for the Federico García Lorca Centre in Granada, Spain. Since then, their work has been focused primarily on developing public competitions that are either cultural or related to relevant historical contexts.

Gradually, their design activity has been consolidated by winning numerous prizes in national and international competitions. In 2010, they won the AJAC Prize for young architects from the Catalan Architecture Chamber. In 2011, they won the international competition for the extension of the Serlachius Museums Gösta in Mänttä, Finland, a competition with 579 entries from 42 countries. The museum extension was opened to the public in June 2014. In 2013, they were awarded the International Spanish Architecture Prize for the Serlachius Museum project.

MX_SI moves on the basis of exploring architecture as a spatial experience, unfolded from a logical and comprehensive dialogue among structure, geometry, context, spatial and visual expression. Their work is branded by its versatility in solving complex programs, understanding the context of users’ needs, and materiality as a whole. This concern shows a significant sensitivity to time, in order to integrate the new with the already existing, and highlighting the plastic qualities of their projects and the environment.

Open international design competitions – like the one for the Serlachius Museum Gösta Extension – are good platforms for testing architecture ideas. For some small offices, like MX_SI, they are possibly the only way to access a relevant scope of commissions. 

Mendoza’s lecture will discuss competition strategies, further developments and subsequent projects of MX_SI, such as the Gösta bridge, the signage and wayfinding design of the firm, as well as their collaborations with local architects, artists, engineers, landscape designers and clients.

The public is invited to attend. Admission is free, with limited seating.

For more information, contact 479-575-4704 or architecture.uark.edu.