When I was in high school, I liked maths, physics and engineering and was also interested in cars, particularly formula one cars and car design. As I grew familiar with structural design and tall buildings, I became fascinated by it.
Could you tell us about your favorite projects?
I have been fortunate to work on many interesting projects. My favorites are those that have unique challenges that provide opportunities for truly innovative design.
One example is the tallest building in Mexico City, Torre Mayor, which, due to its location in a high seismic zone, required a unique approach. When we began working on this in the mid-90s, the devastation of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake was still fresh in my mind and, beyond being successful, I wanted the project to set an example for future projects. We began studying unconventional solutions and decided to incorporate shock absorbers called dampers throughout the body of the structure, which are highly effective when dealing with dynamic loads, which includes earthquakes.