ABOUT US
VERTEBRAL is an architecture and landscaping studio founded in Mexico City by Elias Kalach and Teddy Nanes in 2016.
The approach to projects always follows the same logic, despite being in different social, political and geographical contexts. The studio is not governed by an aesthetic ideal or by a geometric predisposition, but by a search that arises from the exercise of observation, in order to approach the understanding of a site and a series of circumstances that give input and guidelines to architecture. . Vertebral understands architecture as the act of intervening in a site to create space through walls and slabs, but also through bushes, herbs and trees.​
Vertebral uses primary materials in its architecture. Concrete, steel, stone and wood are the resources that with a wide range of geometries build the imaginary of the team, its models and its buildings.
AWARDS
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First Place
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CAM-SAM Grand Prize for Professional Merit (Young Architects)| Professional Merit
Noldi Schreck Award 2022 | Reconversion of Spaces
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AZ Awards 2021 | Social Good | Azure Magazine (Canada)
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Small Architecture 2021 | Architecture Masterprize
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Firenze Entremuros 2021 (Reforma Newspaper) | Ephemeral Architecture
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Premio Obras Cemex 2019 | Residential Housing | Casa Erasto
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Opera Prima | Íconos del Diseño | Architectural Digest Mexico
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Tercera Bienal de Jóvenes Arquitectos 2019 | Residential Housing
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Second Place
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Premio Obras Cemex 2019 Internacional | Residential Housing
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Third Place
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Noldi Schreck Award | Multifamily Housing
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4to Premio Península de Arquitectura e Interiorismo 2020 | AAI
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Honorable Mention
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Best Young Firm | Architizer A+ Awards 2023
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Centro de Cultura Ambiental Chapultepec 2020 | Mexican Ministry of Culture
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Finalist
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Oscar Niemeyer Award for Latin American Architecture | 20 Finalists Selection
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Firenze EntreMuros (Reforma Newspaper) | Finalist for Best Commercial and Corporate Interiors 2019
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Premio Obras | Finalist for Work of the Year 2019
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Blueprint Awards 2019 (UK) | Finalist in Best Non-Public Project: Residential
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The Plan Award 2019 (Italia) | Shortlist
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Jury
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CHANGE ART 2022 | Bucaramanga, Colombia
VERTEBRAL
Elias Kalach
Teddy Nanes
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Team
Marco Agonizante
Lourdes Gámez
Enrique Gonzalez
Caroline Husson
Daniela López
Jose Manuel Martinez
Elsa Mendoza
Anahí Ortega
Sofía Oyarzun
Luisa Pedraza
Edgar Ruiz
Kevin Sandoval
Eliza Teixeira
Fernando Zúñiga
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Previous Collaborators
Alejandra Alcázar
Valeria Álvarez
Fernanda Angulo
Héctor Batres
Alberto Bou
Nino Canun
Sabrina Canun
Giovanna Enríquez
Rodrigo Gamboa
Santiago García
Fernando Gómez
Jacqueline Hale
Pedro López
Leticia Matsuda
Isaac Michan
Cesar Mondragon
Francisco Parra
Isaac Penhos
Juan Agustin Rivera
Alejandra Rojo
Eduardo Suárez
Eliza Teixeira
María Fernanda Tinajero
Habid Valdes
Pablo Ziga