Michel Rojkind on the Social Responsibility of Design

About this episode

Michel Rojkind, founder of Rojkind Arquitectos is known as one of Mexico’s most successful architects. Projects like Foro Boca, a stunning sea-side home to the Boca del Rio Philharmonic Orchestra, or the Cinetecca Nacional that is home of arguably the most important film heritage center in Latin America, Mexico’s National Film Institute. Mercado Roma is a Mexican gastronomic expression designed from the inside-out and bottom-up. And finally, the Nestle Chocolate Museum immortalizes the telling of Mexican chocolate history; all these spaces share a common thread: utilizing space and architecture to have an impact on their respective communities. Michel’s ethos behind his work is what sets these projects apart—the social responsibility that motivates their existence. Long after his designs are realized, these spaces come into their own, shaping the communities they reside in, with those same communities shaping those very spaces, in a sort of unconscious collaboration. As he puts it, it's the manifestation of making that space for other things to happen. But his success as an architect was not his first. Michel was the drummer in the popular 90’s rock band Aleks Syntek y la Gente