Francisco Gonzalez Pulido

Francisco González-Pulido (born February 1970) is a Mexican architect. From 1992 to 1998, he worked predominately independently. In 1999, he joined the Chicago firm Murphy/Jahn Architects (which he later renamed JAHN in 2012). He has worked on a wide range of building typologies with a strong emphasis on the design of skyscrapers and airports in America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. After a long time working with Helmut Jahn, González-Pulido became the firm's first partner in 2009 and then president in 2012. In 2017, González-Pulido left JAHN to establish his own international architectural practice, FGP Atelier.

Life and education González-Pulido is a Mexican architect, born on February 13, 1970, in Mexico City. At the age of six he moved with his family to the north of Mexico.

Since childhood, he has always been interested in both art and technology, but during his early years he thought of becoming a rock and roll musician. After working on his own for a while, he went back to school because he wanted to learn more about cutting edge designs in order to work on bigger projects. From 1998 to 1999 he attended Harvard's School of Design and obtained his master's degree.

González-Pulido has been described as a man with "big personality" and "great ideas".

Career Soon after graduating from the Tec de Monterrey, he was hired to build a summer house, a project that gave him experience as both designer and builder; he gained knowledge, skill and reputation from that project and allowed him to participate in design competitions, winning one Price Waterhouse. Nevertheless, they withdrew the offer when they knew that he did not have a firm to complete the work. working as an independent architect in Mexico and the United States. Among his most important projects during that period are: U2 Studio in Dublin, the Casa Zárate and Museo M+M in Oaxaca, the Casa Palmas in Tamaulipas, the General Motors Centro Técnico S XXI in Mexico City. González-Pulido had heard of Jahn's collaborative concept of "Archi-Neering," combining engineering and architecture to create a symbiotic result through a synergetic process. His original plan was to work for the firm for a short time and move on.

Influences and style González-Pulido has stated that he has admired his mentor's work since he was a student in Mexico, and that he has much common ground with him. However, he admits that they share a good dose of creative tension that makes the collaboration rewarding. He thinks in terms of sequence and scenarios, placing himself at the center of the problem and the solution and believes that building light is not only a theoretical but an ethical position.

Lightness is a recurrent topic in his lectures, writings and design. He has related lightness to the aesthetics and physics of the minimal, the search for boundaries. His preoccupation to create responsive architecture has led him to design energy efficient buildings that have superseded energy standards. In the initial phases of design, he reads and writes extensively. The ideas are developed in the form of physical models and 3D digital studies. Drawing is done only when he has a clear idea of what he wants to do.

The first project that González-Pulido directed completely with his own vision with Murphy/Jahn was the Veer Towers in Las Vegas, which has been noted for its bold, unconventional design. He called the Veer Towers a "mix of utopia, surrealism and great ambition…".

Completed projects

Selected completed projects from 2000 to 2012:

1999 K Street, Office, Washington DC, US 600 Fairbanks, Residential, Chicago, US Bayer, Headquarters, Leverkusen, Germany Deutsche Post, Headquarters, Bonn, Germany FKB, Airport, Cologne, Germany Focus Media Group, Mix-Use, Rostock, Germany Hegau Tower, Office, Singen, Germany Highlight Towers, Mix-Use, Munich, Germany Japan Post, Office, Tokyo, Japan Joe and Rika Mansueto Library, Chicago, US Leatop Plaza, Office, Guangzhou, PRC Merck, Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland Shure, Headquarters, Chicago, US Sign, Headquarters, Düsseldorf, Germany Skyline Tower, Office, Munich, Germany State State Village, Residential, Chicago, US Suvarnabhumi, Airport, Bangkok, Thailand UIC, Power Plants, Chicago, US Yaesu Station, Tokyo, Japan

Selected completed projects from 2012 to 2014:

Cosmopolitan, Residential, Warsaw Poland Weser Tower, Office, Bremen, Germany

Projects under construction as main designer and partner in charge:

Doha Convention Center, Doha, Qatar Qiantan 14, Mix-Use, Shanghai, PRC SIFC, Headquarters, Shanghai, PRC Diablos Rojos del México, Ballpark, Mexico City, Mexico

Publications The Bilbao Guggenheim Museum and other case studies in project's management for Harvard Graduate School of Design. (contributor) Helmut Jahn, Architecture-Engineering - Birkhauser. Helmut Jahn, Process and Progress - Birkhauser. Portfolio Design: Second and Third Edition - Norton. Murphy Jahn Six Works - Images Publishing. Bayer Headquarters - Birkhauser. Post Tower-Bonn - Birkhauser. State Street Village - Birkhauser. Visionary Chicago Architecture: Fourteen inspired concepts for the third millennia.

Recognition His work has been exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Unbuilt Chicago and the U2 Studio in Dublin. In 2005 he won the National Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects.