Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize Announces Cycle 5 Emerging Practice Award

CHICAGO—September 27, 2024—The Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) proudly announces Community Production Center Las Tejedoras, designed by Natura Futura architect José Fernando Gómez and architect Juan Carlos Bamba, as the winners of the fifth MCHAP.emerge award.

The Community Production Center Las Tejedoras serves as a hub for local women artisans, providing them space to learn, create, and showcase their handmade textiles. The project, based in Chongón, Ecuador, is a community-centered design that incorporates traditional building practices while addressing sustainability and economic empowerment. As part of Ecuador’s rich cultural landscape, this project not only offers a functional workspace but also embodies the spirit of environmental and social sustainability.

The award ceremony closed the inaugural Conference on Critical Practice, which brought together authors of the four MCHAP.emerge finalist projects, Illinois Institute of Technology faculty and students, Cycle 5 jury members, and international guests. “We are thrilled to honor the Community Production Center Las Tejedoras, a true demonstration of how the next generation of architects can confront issues of our time with economy and elegance,” said MCHAP Director Dirk Denison. “Along with the other MCHAP.emerge finalist works, the rich conversations of the last few days have generated a multiplicity of ideas to empower future practitioners.”

Community Production Center Las Tejedoras / Centro Comunitario Productivo Las Tejedoras
Natura Futura + Juan Carlos Bamba
Chongón, Guayas, Ecuador

PRIMARY AUTHOR
José Fernando Gómez Marmolejo (designer and founder of Natura Futura), Juan Carlos Bamba (designer and founder of Juan Carlos Bamba)
CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR
Andrea Ollague (management), Young Living Foundation (promoter)
CLIENT
Young Living Foundation - Andrea Ollague
PHOTOGRAPHER
JAG Studio

A Space to Empower and Connect

This center was designed to meet the needs of a collective of women weavers, who for years lacked a suitable environment to carry out their craft. The architects envisioned a space where artisan identity and aspirations could thrive. Featuring a lush central patio filled with native plants, the design harmoniously integrates training areas, practical workshops, a store for their creations, and spaces for community gatherings.

With a design that draws on local materials such as teak wood and clay brick in an intricate herringbone pattern, the building’s architecture not only celebrates tradition but also responds to the climate, ensuring natural ventilation and light. This low-energy approach aligns with the project’s commitment to sustainability in the humid, tropical region.

A Call for Conscious Development

As Ecuador’s urban landscape continues to evolve, the Las Tejedoras project offers a subtle yet powerful critique of large-scale development. Located near Guayaquil, where rapid urban expansion has resulted in deforestation, the center serves as a counter-narrative, reintroducing native vegetation and fostering an environment that encourages biodiversity.

The inclusion of endemic plants like guarumos and heliconias has created a micro-ecosystem, attracting birds and insects displaced by nearby developments. The project challenges conventional urban planning and encourages a dialogue on sustainable public policy, in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Beyond Architecture: A Platform for Growth

Since its opening in 2023, the center has become a cornerstone for economic and social progress in the community. Workshops on weaving and sustainable agriculture have expanded the group’s reach, now including women from surrounding villages. This has led to significant growth in both membership and impact, empowering even more women to participate in the local economy while fostering a deeper connection to the environment.

The center regularly hosts community events, cultural gatherings, and training sessions that inspire a respectful relationship with natural resources. It stands as a beacon of hope for women artisans, embodying the belief that architecture can be a tool for empowerment and sustainability.

MCHAP Jury Member Quote

Speaking on behalf of the jury, Jury Chair Maurice Cox said, “The winning project, the Community Production Center Las Tejedoras, is infused with civic presence capable of dignifying the entire community. Acknowledging the significance of the community's local building practices, the project gives formal expression to local crafts and elevates their qualities. The two-story courtyard, framing the sky, serves as a threshold between the community and the interior workshops, while also providing a central gathering space that seamlessly integrates both architecture and landscape. The structure, designed for natural ventilation, shade and cost-efficiency, utilizes indigenous materials in a clean and beautifully assembled manner. Specifically, the paired columns and beams of raw teak wood used throughout the building elevates the level of detail to one of sophisticated construction.”

“The building operates as a teaching tool,” Cox continued. “The involvement of local women artisans in the project’s construction gives true meaning to the South African expression ‘nothing about us, without us, is for us.’ The project not only provides employment in the community but also facilitates skill development through active participation in the construction process. Notably, the structure stands as a physical symbol of community, reflecting the contributions of the local women in its construction. This agency embedded into the project scope from the client partner, the Young Living Foundation, to the hands that built it represents its mission for education, small-business enterprise, and the right of all people to have access to beauty.”

In addition to Cox, the jury includes Giovanna Borasi, director, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal; Gregg Pasquarelli, founding principal, SHoP Architects, New York; Mauricio Rocha, founder, Taller | Mauricio Rocha, Mexico City, and author of the 2023 Americas Prize winner, the renovation of the Museo Anahuacalli; and Sofia von Ellrichshausen, founding partner, Pezo von Ellrichshausen, Concepción, Chile, and author of Poli House, the 2014 winner of the Prize for Emerging Practice.

MCHAP.emerge Cycle 5 Winner Bio

Natura Futura (José Fernando Gómez) with Juan Carlos Bamba
The partnership between Natura Futura and Juan Carlos Bamba has continuously explored how architecture can respond to the unique needs of Latin America’s smaller cities and communities. By championing environmentally and socially conscious design, the partnership has created multiple projects deeply embedded in their contexts.

Their work on Las Tejedoras was a collaboration with international organizations like Young Living Foundation, which played a pivotal role in the project’s development. The center is more than just a building – it is a living, breathing space of community integration, craft production, and environmental stewardship.

Conference

The Conference on Critical Practice featured presentations by the four MCHAP.emerge finalists and discussions on the future of architecture across the Americas involving MCHAP’s international network.

Among the conference’s guests and honorees was Phyllis Lambert, founder of the Canadian Centre for Architecture, whose philanthropic, architectural, and activist work defines generosity and embodies a vision for the power of architecture moving into the future. In recognition of her singular voice and impact, MCHAP awarded Lambert the MCHAP Luminary Award. Also honored was Román Meyer Falcón, current Secretary of Agrarian, Territorial, and Urban Development in the Cabinet of Mexico and President of the UN Habitat Assembly, who received the inaugural MCHAP Phyllis Lambert Agent of Excellence Award.

MCHAP.emerge Cycle 5 Finalists

Community Production Center Las Tejedoras Natura Futura, Juan Carlos Bamba – Winner
Housing Building on Virrey Aviles Street Juan Campanini-Josefina Sposito
PILARES Cuicuilco TO, +UdeB Arquitectos, AGENdA agencia de arquitectura
Elementary School in Santa Cruz de Villacuri Community Estudio Copla, Atelier Ander Bados

The authors of the winning project receive the MCHAP.emerge Award, the MCHAP research professorship leading a studio in the College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology, and funding for a related publication.

Past MCHAP.emerge Laureates

2014 Pezo von Ellrichshausen
2016 PRODUCTORA
2018 Rozana Montiel Estudio de Arquitectura
2022 Taller Capital

MCHAP

The Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) is a biennial prize that acknowledges the best built works of architecture in the Americas. MCHAP was conceived by Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture in 2013. Visit http://www.mchap.co/about for more information.

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College of Architecture

The College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology builds on a legacy of disciplined experimentation in materials and technologies to educate and inspire the next generation of architects and landscape architects. From its landmark campus and home at S. R. Crown Hall, IIT Architecture champions an interdisciplinary approach to education and research that is simultaneously local and global in its impact. IIT Architecture students are educated to address complex, contemporary challenges of designing and constructing across all scales. Both faculty and students enjoy a longstanding relationship with professional practice in Chicago, a city with a vibrant history of innovation in architecture, design, landscape architecture, and urbanism. Visit https://arch.iit.edu/.