CANO VERA arquitectura and TEN x TEN

The Architectural League’s annual Emerging Voices program spotlights North American architects, landscape architects, and urban designers who have significant bodies of realized work and the potential to influence their field.

Juan Carlos Cano and Paloma Vera founded CANO VERA arquitectura in Mexico City in 2007, and Fermín Andrade joined the firm as partner in 2019. Initially oriented toward social housing design, the practice’s portfolio has since expanded to include large scale institutional, cultural, and infrastructural projects. Uniting expertise in both architectural and urban design, CANO VERA arquitectura’s work demonstrates a consistent social orientation and sensitivity to context expressed through ambitiously scaled forms. In the words of its founders, the practice believes that “the specific can transform the whole.”

Ross Altheimer and Maura Rockcastle founded TEN x TEN in Minneapolis in 2015. According to the firm, their transdisciplinary studio works collaboratively to “co-create immersive, resilient landscapes that adapt to social, economic, and environmental transformation.” Through diverse projects that range from industrial reuse to memorial design and a methodology that centers research and community investment, TEN x TEN’s work demonstrates a deep respect for place and the belief that design can affect positive change in our environments.

The presentations will be followed by a conversation with Fernanda Canales. Canales is an architect based in Mexico City and has taught at Harvard University GSD, Princeton University School of Architecture, and Yale School of Architecture. Her publications include Shared Structures, Private Space and Architecture in Mexico, 1900–2010. She was a member of the 2024 Emerging Voices jury.