Rossana Gutiérrez de Lubetsky

PEI Architects (New York City)
Principal

Over 40 Years
in the Industry

How did you get started in the AEC Industry?

My maternal grandfather owned a large property along a river outside of Mexico City. He was an accountant, but he was also a hands-on person and he designed and built a house for his large family (nine children and my grandparents) that was not a traditional structure: it was organized around a long solarium that connected the rest of the rooms. I loved to spend time playing on the solarium floor and observing how the light of the day changed the appearance of the space.

As a child I was always fascinated by what my grandfather did, and it helped me to see the world in a particular way — not as constructed structures that were malleable, but as a series of geometric shapes and forms that had a purpose. That was the beginning of my interest in architectural structures, though I did not have the words to describe my interest in this way. I then studied architecture in Mexico City, and I started working at one of most important architecture firms in Mexico 2 years before completing a 5-year architecture program. In 1984 at the age of 26 I moved to New York to work at I.M. PEI & Partners.

What inspires you to design? Do you incorporate any unique perspectives or values into your designs?

I believe that our life experience shapes us, and I am sure I draw inspiration from my experience living and growing up in Mexico, as much as from my 40-year career in the US, working closely with I.M. Pei and his partners, and more recently as part of PEI Architects with clients throughout the world. I remember my fascination when traveling with my family to visit Mexican Colonial and Pre-colonial archeological sites. The pre-colonial ruins were my favorite, and I was particularly intrigued by the stone-clad structures organized in open fields.

Who have your role models been? Have you had any mentors throughout your career, and how have they shaped your journey in architecture?

I come from a family where my grandparents were college educated, and my aunts studied either medicine or law and worked in those professions, at a time in Mexican society when it was highly unusual for women to be practicing professionals. Being the first in my family to study architecture came with challenges and expectations, because I felt I had to represent myself in an honorable way. I have had no role models in the field growing up, instead following my instincts and my desire to become an architect.

That said, as I studied architecture and trained in the profession — learning to see the world in a new and visually exciting manner — I was fortunate to have quite a few important mentors. My real architectural education started at the office of Augusto H. Alvarez, a major exponent of the International Style in Mexico. His office was my firsthand experience of how to design and develop a project. After that, I moved to New York City to work directly for I.M. Pei and his partners Henry Cobb and James Ingo Freed. My first 25 years of architectural experience could not have been better. I.M. Pei was in a class of his own: brilliant and supportive yet demanding.

How do you think architecture can help address social issues, and how have you seen women lead the way in creating inclusive, equitable spaces?

Architecture reflects our society, and as architects we have a great responsibility to improve the built environment, leaving those spaces better than what they previously were. This allows us the possibility of experiencing our environment in new, different, and unusual ways. The point of architecture is to re-create a space so that it can better serve the citizens of the country where it is placed — and also to leave the world a little bit better, and the people who experience that built space a little more aware. Architecture's transformative possibilities enrich our lives and draw us closer to each other because that, after all, is why we choose to live in a society rather than as peripatetic nomads.

What has been the most fulfilling moment of your career so far, and how did it shape your professional journey?

The work I have led for the past 20 years marks a turning point in my professional career because I have been able to apply what I have learned: successful architecture requires a close collaboration between a client and an architect, a hands-on approach, and an understanding of all aspects of a project that is crucial to its successful completion.

Tell us about some of your favorite projects you’ve worked on.

I’m especially proud of my work for The Centro Cultural Guanajuato in Mexico, including the Guanajato State Library. Designed under strict cost constraints, the library is notable for its rare use of the traditional Mexican volcanic stone Cantera in a modern building, and for earning the 2009 AIA/ALA Library Building Award. I have been fortunate to work on a variety of projects representing a variety of cultures, such as The Museum of Islamic Art Park in Doha, Qatar; The Six Dynasties Museum and Grand Mansion Hotel in Nanjing, China; and Chateau Lynch-Bages winery in Pauillac, France — each is a career highlight.

What advice would you give women just entering the industry?

If I could talk to a young woman who aspires to be an architect, I would say to her to be open to the range of sensibilities that the profession demands: openness to craftsmanship, and to nature, which has always inspired the great architects. Great architecture always aspires to ennoble the human experience, and to enrich our interactions with the world we in which we live, thereby opening us to new possibilities we did not know existed. I would also advise a young person wanting to be an architect to remember that they are as good as anyone else studying architecture, and not to let anyone discourage them. You must respect the profession, and work at the edge of what is possible, always with a core belief in the ennobling nature of architecture!