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DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?

: The main idea is to have a better interaction between the people that occupy the building and with the surrounding urban fabric. To create a more porous interaction between users and building as object.

DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?

: I have a strong interest in weaving between the inhabitants local environment and the urban fabric. To create dynamic movement that actually creates meaning.

DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?

: To use it as a tool and a medium for testing theories about urban relationships and inhabitants in real world environments.

DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?

: 18 months.

DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?

: Because there was a need in Quito to re-think the mixed-use typology and its relationship to its environment. The design was a commission but the inspiration and techniques of architecture came from our interests in varying methodologies of process.

DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?

: Single and unique design

DI: What made you design this particular type of work?

: It was a design out of necessity.

DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?

: Gabriela Anker, my partner.

DI: Who is the target customer for his design?

: The end users.

DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?

: GAIA is a new concept in Latin America. Not only for its form but also materials and construction methods.

DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?

: A number of different three-dimensional software.

DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?

: The material manifestation.

DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?

: We collaborated with the builder, engineers, product manufactures, clients, designers, interior designer, and product representatives.

DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?

: Technology was 100% percent involved from the concept to completion of the project. It is alwaysl very present in our work.

DI: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?

: I worked with parametric influences for the efficiency of the construction process.

DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?

: Finding the right materials for the facade, considering that in the local markets there are not many options available. We worked together with a product representative to make sure the material met the specifications to cover our needs.

DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?

: Because we wanted to present it to the international community, and hopefully get positive feedback.

DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?

: We were able to compare it to our colleagues and learn to keep pushing forward, there is a lot of great work out there.