Jose Castillo is a practicing architect and urbanist living and working in Mexico City. He is the principal and founder alongside Saidee Springall of arquitectura 911sc, an independent architectural and urban practice. Among their built works are the SA236 housing complex and the JS32 offices in Mexico City and the competition-winning projects for the expansion of the Spanish Cultural Center in the Historic Center of Mexico City (with Javier Sanchez), and the new campus for the CEDIM school of architecture and design in Monterrey (with Fernanda Canales). Their urban planning work, includes various transportation corridors in the metropolitan area of Mexico City and developing along Arup and JSa a 50 hectare master plan for the former railyards of Pantaco, Mexico City. Recently, arquitectura 911sc was awarded the first prize in the public competition for a new Performing Arts Center in Guadalajara, Mexico. Construction for the 20,000 sq. meters, 3 theater complex is expected to start in mid 2010.
Castillo’s work and writings have appeared in several publications including Praxis Journal, Bomb, Arquine, Architectural Record, 2G, and Domus as well as in the Book The Endless City, published by Phaidon. He is a professor at the Universidad Iberoamericana’s School of Architecture in Mexico City and at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design where he teaches a seminar titled The Spaces of Tourism. Castillo is also part of Urban Age, a series of global conferences on the future of cities directed by Ricky Burdett and funded by the London School of Economics and the Deutsche Bank.
Since 2005, Castillo has curated various exhibitions including Mexico City Dialogues: New Architectural Practices at the Center for Architecture in New York City and participations at the Rotterdam, Venice, Sao Paulo and Canary Island Biennales.