a|911 is a multidisciplinary office founded in 2002 by Saidee Springall and Jose Castillo in Mexico City. Its work covers architectural, urban design, planning, mobility, and landscape projects approached with a design and research-based methodology. Currently, it is composed of two principals and 60 professionals from different backgrounds and with various expertise.

Their work includes research, cultural, institutional, housing, mobility projects, and mixed-use master plans in various cities in Mexico and Central America. a|911 has collaborated with a diversity of Mexican and foreign architects, including Alberto Kalach, Enrique Norten, Isaac Broid, Javier Sánchez, Michel Rojkind, Productora, MMX, Julio Amezcua, Frida Escobedo, Fernanda Canales, Cadena y Asociados, Esrawe, among many others.

Their award-winning projects include the expansion of the Spanish Cultural Center, the CEDIM Campus in Monterrey, the Elena Garro Cultural Center and the García Terrés Library, the Siqueiros Public Art Gallery, the Centro Cultural del Bosque, and Julio Castillo Theater refurbishment, the administration building for PLATAH in Hidalgo, the clubhouse for Cabo Norte in Merida, the TV Azteca Pavilion, the San Juan Pugibet market remodeling, and the Ara Iztacalco housing project, among many others.

Among their notable projects are the expansion of the Centro Cultural de España, the CEDIM campus in Monterrey NL, more than 2,000 units of intra-urban social housing, the Jaime García Terrés Library in the Ciudadela, the remodeling of the Siqueiros Public Art Room, the Elena Garro Cultural Center, and the remodeling of the Bosque Cultural Center and the Julio Castillo Theater, the Platah administrative building in Hidalgo, Azteca Pavilion in Mexico City, the remodeling of the San Juan Market, and two PILARES – social infrastructures – for the Mexico City government.

Their urban planning work includes the master plan for Azcania in Azcapotzalco, developed in collaboration with Arup, Cerro Norte, a mixed-use district in León, Guanajuato in collaboration with Sasaki, the Cabo Norte housing and mixed-use development in Mérida, as well as a series of tourist, industrial, and mixed-use master plans in different states of the Republic and Central America.

Among their mobility projects are the Mexibús Pantitlán-Neza-Chimalhuacán transport corridor, the master plan for the Buenavista-Centro Histórico-San Lázaro BRT, the Maribús / Acabici project, a water and bicycle mobility system for the port of Acapulco, the master plans for the Cetram Observatorio and the architectural and urban planning project for the Cetram Tacubaya, as well as the comprehensive sustainable mobility strategy for the City of Mérida, Yucatán.

Among their awards and recognitions, a|911 has received Mexico’s National Housing Award in 2011, the Bronze Medal of the Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction Latin America (2011), Emerging Voices Award from the Architectural League of New York (2012), Travel + Leisure Design Award 2014, and the Best of Year 2013 by Interior Design, as well as the Project of the Year by ArchDaily and Plataforma Arquitectura, and the Audi Urban Future Award (2014). In 2015, a|911 was recognized as the most visionary architectural firm in Mexico by Obras Magazine, and recently, both Springall and Castillo were selected as recipients of the 2017 Richard Rogers Fellowship, a new residency program at the Wimbledon House in London.

The work and research of a|911 have been extensively published both in Mexico and abroad, including in publications such as Architectural Record, Praxis Journal, Arquine, Artes de México, Domus, AD, 2G, Glocal, Monocle, Monument, Wallpaper, The New York Times, and Mark. Their work has also been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at exhibitions such as the São Paulo Architecture Biennale (2005), Rotterdam Architecture Biennale (2005 and 2007), Venice Biennale (2006, 2008, and 2012), and Canary Islands Biennale of Arts and Architecture (2007), among others. Recently, their proposals for the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale (2016) and Rotterdam Architecture Biennale (2016) were selected to be part of Mexico’s digital archive and for their participation in the respective exhibitions.