In Mexico, until recently, unknown to many, an architectural project has been slowly revealing itself to society. The Environmental Sciences Museum (MCA for its Spanish acronym) of the University of Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco is one of the most ambitious architectural projects in Western Mexico. Not only because of its unusual architecture but also because of how it seeks to communicate the mission of a natural history museum, one that can hardly be called traditional.
The building was designed by Snøhetta; the Global Architecture firm that has been at the forefront of international design for the past thirty years. The office was recently selected as second on the list of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies by the Wall Street Journal and Fast Company magazine. In 2020, it won the Cooper Hewitt’s National Design Award for Architecture, while previously, Snøhetta had received the Aga Kahn Award for Architecture, Wan Sustainable Building Award, the European Mies van der Rohe Award and the Mexican Mario Pani Architectural Award.
We interviewed Craig Dykers, the firm’s co-founding partner, to learn how the building design process of the MCA differed from that of other buildings designed by Snøhetta, like the Oslo Opera House, the National September 11 Memorial Museum, or the SFMoMA expansion, among others.
