Ximena Rios Zertuche

Design work
Personal Statement
Design work

As architects we have an obligation to participate in public discussions regarding the common good of our built environment, and that is what drives my current practice.

My professional experience as an architect in a firm, a writer for a magazine and a public relations officer in an architecture office taught me that the vast majority of
architecture related communications are for the consumption of other architects. Throughout my career I have participated in efforts to democratize the design process and
explain the concepts behind human-built environments.

Since I started working on communication strategy, with an aim to build a shared language, I have participated in several socially-focused and mediation projects. The work
samples you’ll see next have the purpose of generating proposals from which to build new social forms in relation to spaces, so that we can have better and friendlier places to
live in.

My work is mainly governed by two concepts:

1. The importance of research projects and their capacity to showcase the challenges architects are facing in their countries and the way they work to overcome social issues.

2. The production and distribution of knowledge through design, as it is crucial to the development of social and politically engaged thinking.
 CommOn!
Type of project: research, game design, graphic design.
Year: 2018
Purpose: Beca Jóvenes Creadores / Young Creators Grant, 2017-2018, FONCA Fondo
Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (the National Fund for Culture and Arts)

There’s no architecture without participation; and the best

way to foster it is through a game. We must change the
practice rules of architecture. The objective of this project
is to develop a patterned graphic communication system,
accessible to all participants, allowing all users to make
decisions about their environment. CommOn! is a board
game designed to show people the importance of collective
processes.

Why architecture as a game? Architecture’s future is not

architectonic (Jean Nouvel). Architects are urged to provide
other ways of empathy and pragmatism to reclaim our role
in society. Blueprints are the secret language of technicians.
How can we create instruments that can reach a broader
audience?

This architectural game can be considered as a social

phenomenon, as were the modern manifiestoes, the
collective utopias or Wright’s provocative graphs.

The game has been tested in different focus groups

and the results are being documented in an
editorial project.
Look inside
Type of project: research, written content, editorial design, illustration.
Year: 2015
Purpose: bachelor´s thesis project

This illustrated book presents a new alternative for the architectural process by bringing
readers closer to the designing of the spaces that they will inhabit daily, regardless of their
knowledge or background. It is not intended as a textbook for architects - it is a reminder
that what is important is not the space itself, but the relationship with its inhabitants and the
connection created between them; one cannot exist without the other. This work would later
be selected as part of the Mexican pavilion of the 2016 Venice Biennale of Architecture.
Servicio Social y Prácticas Profesionales
Fecha: 2014
Sitio: Casa Hogar Hijos de la Luna
Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca
Asociación: Kopalli Arte Público
Proyecto de Titulación
Programa: Yo soy Arte
Fecha: 2015
Equipo de Trabajo:
Asesor:
Sebastián Amtmann Arq. Daniel Mastretta
Universidad Iberoamericana
 Hotel Umbral
Type of project: naming, branding, visual identity and wayfinding design
Year: in progress
Purpose: private client, Curio Collection by Hilton

Umbral is a luxury hotel in Mexico’s City Downtown with an important

historical value. The building itself represents three centuries of
architectural history and has to be treated as an important reference in
Mexico City.

The name and brand enhances the elegance and the intrigue that the
architectural design of the hotel offers. I wanted the brand to be able to tell
a story and to have a strong narrative in itself. It was very important that the
design didn’t feel overly developed in order for it to be faithful to the criteria
of the architectural design developed by Javier Sánchez.

The wayfinding design was an important part of the project and it responds
to the concept of traveling and discovering a space gradually. It seeks to set
the stage for discovery and indulge, where mindful details and a carefully
considered simplicity allow for exploration. That is why the scale of the signs
is discreet and plays with light, setoff, location and contrast.
1. CU en Construcción / CU under Construction, editorial design,
typography design and printing coordination, 2018. Client: Fundación ICA.
Editorial Design
2. Manual, Acevo Histórico Fundación ICA / Handbook, Historical
Collection ICA Foundation, editorial design and printing coordination,
2018. Client: Fundación ICA.

3. Anual Appeal, editorial design, illustration and printing coordination,

2018. Client: Humanities New York.

4. La vida secreta de los arquitectos / The secret life of the

architects series, editorial design, visual narrative and illustration, 2018.
Submission for a grant program.
1.
2.

3.

4.
Visual essay
- editorial
illustration
1. Densidad(es) / Densities. Mexico City: Vivienda IFONAVIT
Magazine: 62-63. Printed.

2. Criterios de diseño / Design Criteria. Mexico City: institutional

proyect publication. Printed. Client: Grupo Abilia.

3. En tiempos de los modernos / In modern times. Mexico City: self

printed publication. A visual essay based on two fictional tales, written by
Juan José Kochen, that tell the story of two of the most important architects
and urbanists of the modernist movement: Le Corbusier and Ebenezer
Howard.

4. Silogismos / Syllogisms. Monthly column for ArchDaily.mx,

PlataformaArquitectura.cl. Web. ‘Silogismos’ is an architecture and
illustration project that bases its research on archives, publications and
photographs on the history of modern construction in Mexico. It is
a graphic narrative about the permanences and transformations of

1.
fundamental works of the 20th century through the synthesis, interpretation
and contrast of their ideas. The referred binomials confront thought and
form with deductive inferences. The sum of the parts envisages meanings
and critical reasons of the architecture for its future reconstruction.
2. Cliente: Juan Reyes
Fecha: 2017

Concepto
y Contenidos
Texto
Ilustraciones
Diseño editorial

3.
4.
 Communication
Concepto
y Contenidos
Texto
Diseño de empaque
Ilustración
Diseño de modelo en
papel

design

1. JSa 2016 Christmas gift. Paper model and packaging design.

2. JSa 2017 Christmas gift. Illustration, bottle and packaging design.

3. ReUrbano 2018 Christmas gift. Illustration and postcard design.

4. JSa.com.mx, website, and web content design. Client: JSa arquitectos.

5. Vivienda Posible / Posible housing. Creative direction, production

and animation for a video presentation at CoRe Urban Forum, Mexico City.
Client: ReUrbano.

6. Industriales. Graphic image and communication for an exhibition at

Proyector Galería, Mexico City.

1.
 3.

Concepto
y Contenidos
Texto
Diseño de empaque
Ilustración

C
F

2.
 5.

4.
6.
 Architectural Illustration

1. Mixe rural housing, Oaxaca. Personal archive.

2. Monumento a la madre, Monument in Mexico City. Editorial

Illustration.

3. Tlatelolco, Mexico City. Personal archive.

4. Pedregal, project for an architectural design competition. Comission.

5. Público, CoWorking office building, Mexico City. Comission by Javier

Sánchez.

6. Pachuca 02, Mexico City. Personal archives.

7. La vida secreta de los arquitectos/The secret life of the

architects series. Submission for a grant program.

1.
 2.

Paseo Urbano Monumento a la Madre

Paseo Urbano Monumento a la Madre

Paseo Urbano
Monumento a la Madre
3.
4. 5. 6.
7.

ESCALA FUNCIÓN
R a m í r e z Vá z q u e z Juan O´G or man

GEOMETRÍA DENSIDAD
Félix Candela Mar io Pani