A House Is Not Just a House: Projects on Housing, Paperback

A House Is Not Just a House argues precisely that. The book traces Tatiana Bilbao's diverse work on housing ranging from large-scale social projects to single-family luxury homes. These projects offer a way of thinking about the limits of housing: where it begins and where it ends. Regardless of type, her work advances an argument on housing that is simultaneously expansive and minimal, inseparable from the broader environment outside of it and predicated on the fundamental requirements of living. Working within the turbulent history of social housing in Mexico, Bilbao argues for participating even when circumstances are less than ideal--and from this participation she is able to propose specific strategies learned in Mexico for producing housing elsewhere.

A House Is Not Just a House includes a recent lecture by Bilbao at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, as well as reflections from fellow practitioners and scholars, including Amale Andraos, Gabriela Etchegaray, Hilary Sample, and Ivonne Santoyo-Orozco.

Tatiana Bilbao, born and raised in Mexico City, graduated from Universidad Iberoamericana in 1996. In 2004, she founded her titular office, initiating projects in China, Europe, and Mexico. In 2007, Architectural Record awarded Bilbao the Design Vanguard Award as one of the Top 10 Emerging Firms of the year. In 2014, she received the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture from the LOCUS Foundation, Cite de L'Architecture of Paris, and the patronage of UNESCO. Bilbao has lectured all over the world and taught, most recently, at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. Bilbao believes in architecture as a means to enhance the quality of life. Working with the environment, its surrounding materials, and local craftsmanship, she strives to establish communication and exchange. Her multicultural and multidisciplinary office seeks to understand our contemporary world and translate its rigid codes and rules into habitable space.