2026 BIA AWARD
2026 BIA AWARD
After a professional career of more than 20 years showing a deep respect for the environment, sustainability, and the creation of spaces that promote community and social integration, the BIA Committee has found Ms. Tatiana Bilbao the most worthy recipient of year’s award.
TATIANA BILBAO SPAMER, HFAIA
CEO – Tatiana Bilbao ESTUDIO
Mexico City, 02/08/1972
Tatiana Bilbao founded her studio of the same name in Mexico City in 2004 with the focus on integrating research, design strategies oriented to and led by the community, along with responsible building. The office work is intertwined with research, which allows the design to be used for different circumstances. Prior to founding her studio, Bilbao was an Advisor in the Ministry of Development and Housing of the Government of the Federal District of Mexico City, and was a member of the General Development Directorate of the Advisory Council for Urban Development in the City.
Bilbao holds a recurring teaching position at Yale University School of Architecture and has taught at Harvard University GSD, AA Association in London, Columbia University GSAPP, Rice University, University of Andrés Bello in Chile, and Peter Behrens School of Arts at Dusseldorf in Germany. Her work has been published in The New York Times, A + U, Domus, Arquitectura Viva, El País, to name a few. She has received different awards throughout her career. In February 2025, Tatiana was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (HFAIA), one of the highest accolades for non-US-licensed architects, and which highlighted her impact on global architecture. Furthermore, the Mar de Cortés Research Center project was one of the 5 finalists for the Mies Crown Hall American Prize (MCHAP).
Over the last five years, Bilbao was awarded the 2020 Tau Sigma Delta Gold Medal, the title of Honorary Member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) in 2021; the Richard Neutra Award and the AW Architect in 2022; the J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize and the ArpaFIL Award in 2023, and received an Honorary Doctorate from Boston Architectural College in 2024.
Tatiana Bilbao. Photography Ana Hop
Acuario Mazatlan_Photography Juan Manuel McGrath©
TATIANA BILBAO ESTUDIO
Tatiana Bilbao ESTUDIO, founded in 2004, is an architect’s studio, headquartered in Mexico City. Its work is driven by research, design, community-led strategies and responsible building. The studio’s projects are on different scales and in different programmes, but always seek to engage with communities and to generate a positive impact on the way of life on the planet. The studio considers architecture as a primary form of care and each design is approached from that responsibility.
Each project – whether it is a garden, a plan or a building – is part of the intangible landscape of the cultural and political conditions of its site. The studio considers that the social landscape is an essential factor in the development of any work, with the belief that any project – regardless of the scale – contributes to fashioning the identify of a place.
Collage Tatiana Bilbao ESTUDIO
Acknowledging the different ways in which people live is the starting point of each proposal. The studio considers unravelling the rituals that occupy the space, understanding the needs of its inhabitants, and exploring how architecture shapes social interactions and underpins the potential for building community to be fundamental. Its goal is to create spaces that become platforms where each person can define the way they live.
Community is at the heart of its philosophy: a place where the opportunities for growth, knowledge transfer and cultural exchange emerge. First and foremost, the studio acknowledges that the community persists because human beings mutually need each other to exist.
Collaboration is at the heart of the ethics of Tatiana Bilbao ESTUDIO, which argues that significant architecture cannot be produced in isolation, but rather requires constant exchange of ideas and perspectives. This collaborative spirit is not merely a preference, but rather a need. Tatiana Bilbao ESTUDIO works as a team, prioritising analogue methods, such as freehand drawings, collages and physical models. This work methodology produces an approach to architecture where the architect does not define the space, but is rather imagined with the future inhabitants in mind.
Tatiana Bilbao ESTUDIO. Photography Fernando Sánchez ©
Casas Valhalla. Photography Luis Gallardo Studio
The studio’s architectural works includes projects of the ilk of ESTOA, a building on the Monterrey University (UDEM) campus; Culiacán Botanical Gardens; the Pilgrim’s Route in Jalisco; an affordable social housing prototype, exhibited at the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2015; three housing blocks in Lyon, France; the Mar de Cortés Research Centre in Mazatlán; and Olive West, a housing development in St. Louis, United States. The studio is currently working on the second phase of the Mexican-American Cultural Center in Austin; the Roble 700 project, a mixed use building in Monterrey; two houses in Costa Rica, each 1000 m² in size; and a residential masterplan in Uruguay.
In 2019, Tatiana Bilbao ESTUDIO was featured in the Architect’s Studio at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen. Furthermore, its work has been exhibited at internationally renowned institutions, including the Pompidou Centre, the SFMOMA, the National Gallery of Victoria, Carnegie Museum of Art, the Venice Biennale, the Chicago Architecture Biennial, Zurich Design Museum, the Danish Architecture Center, T-Space Gallery and Aedes Berlin