VIEW FROM THE TOP
DESIGNING MEXICO’S GATEWAY TO THE WORLD FERNANDO ROMERO Founder of FR-EE
Q: What is FR-EE’s key differentiator from other successful
heritage in Mexico. Through this, we were able to connect
architectural firms?
with a context that combined the global with the local.
A: We firmly believe that architecture is an opportunity
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to mark a specific historical moment and boost the
Mexico is one of the richest countries in terms of natural
development of a given context. Every context has
resources, and one of the most visited countries in the
information that can be translated to improve the economic
world. I firmly believe it has all the elements, including the
development of a certain area, and that also is as an
cultural heritage, to create amazing architecture. But we
opportunity to portray the development of the technology
have not placed a higher value on the context and that
of a civilization. We incorporate that knowledge into our
must be our main goal, especially in this interconnected
designs, which is our main differentiator.
globalized world with a melting pot of cultural identity. We must also ask ourselves how we can use the existing
Q: What role do architects play in defining the future of
technologies to enrich this culture by connecting and
Mexico’s infrastructure?
understanding its information.
A: About 99 percent of infrastructure has been designed by engineers, who solve quantitative problems based on
Q: What do you think about architects creating alliances
numbers. I think that architecture is an amazing opportunity
with other clusters to work on NAICM?
to go beyond the quantitative aspects of problems and
A: I think collaborations have long been present in
find the symbolic potential of every project. This means
architectural history. For example, the Centre Pompidou
that infrastructure is a great chance to portray the identity
in Paris was built through collaboration and became an
of a country. We do not want to merely solve numeric
icon. To me, it was a blessing to be able to collaborate with
problems. As architects, we are interested in answering
Norman Foster, probably the most admired architect in the
fundamental problems from a perspective that will enrich
world today, who has a remarkable knowledge regarding
people’s quality of life, while boosting social and economic
the design of airports. It was extraordinary to see our ideas
development.
converge in developing NAICM’s masterplan. Norman was very open and sensitive to our vision of the project. Also,
NAICM comprises more than 1 million m2 of total construction, including a ground transportation center and the control tower
his capacity to build the argument and stress the ideas was paramount when selling our design. The competition was exceptionally strong, but we are convinced we developed the most coherent and beautiful solution, which is why we were awarded the project. Q: What are the main challenges you encountered while designing NAICM? A: NAICM is a complex project given the number of flows
Q: How do you think architecture has changed in Mexico
that will happen within its structure: of people, goods,
during the last couple of years?
luggage, systems, employees, agencies and so on. Its
A: We come from a very strong modern movement.
scale is extraordinary, as it comprises more than 1 million
Modernity carries the post-war conscience of constructing
m2 of total construction, including a ground transportation
buildings with the capacity to be easily reproduced.
center and the control tower. In terms of technical aspects,
Post-modern architects have been educated through
to build it on soil that was once a lake and thus has a huge
the suffering of several economic crises, and I think the
compression capacity makes the project as complicated as
experiences of the 1940s and 1950s have given us a strong
building on the ocean. The technical aspects can be solved
