Taller Gabriela Carrillo named winner of the 2023 Dorfman Award

The Royal Academy of Arts in London has named Taller Gabriela Carrillo the winner of the 2023 Dorfman Award. The £10,000 prize (est. $12,300 USD) is awarded annually to an individual, architectural collective, or practice that is working at the leading edges of the design field to “highlight the future potential of architecture.” 

Carrillo was selected among four finalists: Vietnamese practice Tropical Space, Spain’s H Arquitectes, and fellow Mexican studio Comunal Taller de Arquitectura for an approach that “emphasizes the creation of space for people to find their own ways of coming together and engages of all the senses through architecture.” The Royal Academy of Arts' selection follows Vinu Daniel as the Award’s fifth overall winner back in 2022.

Níall McLaughlin, the Chair of the 2023 Royal Academy Architecture Awards Jury, said: “Taller Gabriela Carrillo impressed the judges with their conviction to create an architecture that is to be both seen and felt – to engage all of the senses with joyful structures that derive from a very distinctive and architectural attitude to form-making.”

“We were delighted by Gabriela’s drawings, which were expressive of a sense of constant creativity and restless exploration, and impressed by the huge diversity of projects she has contributed to,” his statement continued. “In the final balance, the judges felt that her work best represented the sense of innovation in architectural practice that the Dorfman Award was established to celebrate.”

Sir Lloyd Dorfman, the Founding Partner for the Award, added: “The work of Taller Gabriela Carrillo is confident, warm and human. Gabriela’s optimism about the role of the architect and about the potential of beauty to create change makes her a worthy winner of this award.”

Carrillo has been a practicing architect based in Mexico City with over 20 years of experience. She founded her own practice, Taller Gabriela Carrillo, in 2019. Prior to that, she was a founding partner of Taller Rocha-Carrillo with Mauricio Rocha.

She is currently the Head of the Research and Degree Seminar Estudio RX at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and an active member of Colectivo c733, a group that has been responsible for the Matamoros Market and several other well-publicized public building designs recently in the country.

“We don’t work for awards, but when we win them they feel really good. I’m excited by the potential for this award to open doors and support the ongoing research of our practice,” Carrillo offered modestly. “I’m optimistic about what space can do to support a dignified and democratic society – I’d like to thank the jury, Sir Lloyd Dorfman and the Royal Academy for their support for the vision of our practice.”

Carrillo is joined by Irish architect Shane de Blacam, who was named the winner 2023 Royal Academy Architecture Prize in early July.