Hello and thank you for stopping by. This is my first blog entry, and I am very excited to share a little bit about Architecture, design, life and to engage in uplifting and interesting conversations with you. I am passionate about architecture, the design process, materials and methods and I want to learn about your questions and concerns regarding buildings and design while becoming a source of information for you.
My name is Citlalli, which means “star” in Nahuatl. My family does not speak Nahuatl, but they liked the name, and I love how I can take that Mexican heritage with me wherever I go.
I am a dreamer, a mom, a wife, a friend, a sister, a daughter, and a Registered Architect in California and Mexico.
I was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Guadalajara is a beautiful, colorful city, with rich culture and traditions. Jalisco is where mariachi and tequila were born. It is one of the states in Mexico where you can find abundance of talent, beautiful people and a vast architectural heritage. It is the birthplace of renowned people, like Luis Barragan (architect), Jose Clemente Orozco (muralist), Juan Rulfo (writer), and more recently Guillermo del Toro (filmmaker), Gael Garcia Bernal (actor) among many more. I will continue sharing more about Guadalajara and Mexico in future blog posts.
Besides my Mexican roots, I have been lucky to call Los Angeles home for almost 15 years, but I struggled to warm up to the culture and to understand the peculiar vibe of this city in the beginning. Like a good wine, L.A. is a city that for me gets better with time, because it takes some time to explore, to learn and to really get to know it. It was at the 5 year mark that I began to really fall in love with the people, the culture, the scenery and everything that it has to offer and that I was able to call this place home. I love Los Angeles, and I am looking forward to sharing more about it as well.
I feel lucky, because having been immersed in these two cultures has allowed me to see different perspectives, and to explore life in different and interesting ways. It has also impacted me professionally. I have learned traditions, architecture, language and heritage of two places that are as different as they are similar and I find some beauty in this.
I have worked with buildings and the people that inhabit, design and build them for over 15 years, in California and abroad. During that time, I have observed that there is a need for a better understanding of the systems and intricacies that are involved in the design process.
Architecture, building systems, materials and methods are vast and can get intricate, but the basics are fun and really quite simple and my ambitious goal is to demystify the design process with the aim of helping people to make better design decisions and to bring value to the design profession by sharing the importance and benefits of having a team of experts on the client’s side.
We will explore different topics, methods, architectural styles and lifestyles. I want this to be the entryway to a platform where we can have conversations around these topics.
Please leave a comment and I will personally respond to each one of them. Your contributions could even be an inspiration for further entries. I look forward to reading you!
In the meantime, I will leave you with a taste of Guadalajara:
… And feel free to share this with your friends, family and colleagues!
Citlalli
“Architecture is an art when one consciously or unconsciously creates aesthetic emotion in the atmosphere, and when this environment produces well being”
- Luis Barragan
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