Photo: Cesar A Lopez

Cesar A Lopez

Assistant Professor

/ 505-277-2903


Education

  • M.Arch, California College of the Arts, Architecture Division
  • B.S. Architecture, Texas Tech University, College of Architecture, El Paso

Research

  • Typologies shaped by the U.S.-Mexico Border
  • Politics of Representation
  • Territory and Infrastructure

Cesar A. Lopez is a design researcher who draws from his experiences living in the United States-Mexico border region to explore the entanglements between architecture, territory, and the politics that dictate them. He is an Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico, School of Architecture + Planning, where he teaches studios on territorial typologies and seminars on the politics of representation. Cesar is an Associate and Representation Lead at The Open Workshop, where his primary focus is developing the office's representational project, which aims to frame collateral populations and environments that often discounted by the discipline. He has been a leading designer on many widely published projects and installations, including New Investigations in Collective Form, which was awarded the 2021 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture Faculty Design Award, Commoning Domestic Space at the 17th Venice Biennale, and The Center Won't Hold at the 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial.

Cesar taught architectural design studios, representation courses, and workshops at the California College of the Arts (CCA) and the University of California, Berkeley College of Environmental Design. In 2018, he participated in the Resilience by Design - Bay Area Challenge as the Resilient Design Research Fellow. His writings, drawings, and research have been published in Bracket [Takes Action], Pidgin, Momentum Magazine, Places Journal, and the Art Journal. Cesar received his Master in Architecture from the California College of the Arts (CCA) and a Bachelor of Science of Architecture from Texas Tech University, College of Architecture in El Paso.


ARCH 301: Architectural Design III

ARCH 1115: Introduction to Architectural Graphics

ARCH 604: Masters Architecture Design IV — Citizenry Exclusions

ARCH 462-662: Seminar — Representation as Action

ARCH 601: Masters Architecture Design I — Social Currency

ARCH 462-662: Seminar — The US-Mexico Border as…

ARCH 323: Architecture and Context


(Forthcoming Book)

 Lopez, Cesar A., Jeffrey S. Nesbit, “Exclusions, Edges, and Ecologies: An Architecture…,” (ACTAR Publishers, TBD

 

(Published Writings)

Bhatia, Neeraj, and Cesar A. Lopez, “Revealing the Dark Chamber of Precarity”, in Pidgin 29, Scharff J., ed. (Princeton University, 2021)

Lopez, Cesar A., “Borderlands: An Exploitation of the United States-Mexico Political Geography”, in Bracket [Takes Action], Bhatia N., White M., eds. (San Francisco: Applied Research + Design, 2020)

Lopez, Cesar A., “Object Lessons: The US-Mexico Border River”, in Art Journal Vol. 79, (College of Art Association 2020)

Bhatia, N, and Cesar A. Lopez, “Data as Logistics”, Momentum Magazine, (Issue 3, ‘Framework’, Nov. 2019), pp. 20–21.

 

(Published Work & Research)

 The Open Workshop, New Investigations in Collective Form, (Actar Publishers, 2020)

 The Open Workshop, “Environment as Politics”, in Places Journal, (April 2017)

 

(Conference Papers & Projects)

Cuellar, Adrianna, Cesar A. Lopez, and Marcel Sanchez-Prieto “Border Call Centers: Archipelagic Urban Gateways in an Opportunistic Landscape” in 2022 ARCC-EAAE Annual Conference “RESILIENT CITY

Lopez, Cesar A., and Alaa Quraishi, “Actions to Reset Studio Culture” in Proceedings of the 2021 Association Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Annual Conference “Expanded”

Lopez, Cesar A., “Leveraging the Rio Grande River” in Proceedings of the 2020 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Annual Conference “Open”

Knayzeh, Rebal, and Cesar A. Lopez, “Hybridity as Core Studio” in Proceedings of the TFYD 2019, Annual Conference “Initiations: Practices in 1st Year Design in Architecture.”

 

(Conference Presentations & Panels)

New Investigations in Collective Form, w/ Neeraj Bhatia
Design Process Panel / 2021 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Annual Conference “Expanded,” Moderator: Aliki Economides 

Deconstructing Studio Pedagogy, w/ Michaele Pride and Alaa Quraishi
Annual Special Session, 2021 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Annual Conference “Expanded,” Moderator: Samia Kirchner

New Representations of the US-Mexico Border, w/ Nathan Friedman
Special Session Workshop, Border Consortium, 2020 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Annual Conference “Open,” Panelists: Norma Iglesias-Prieto, Ingrid Hernandez

Leveraging the Rio Grande River
Design Process Panel, 2020 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Annual Conference “Open,” Moderator: Shawhin Roudbari

Hybridity as Core Studio, w/ Rebal Knayzeh
TFYD 2019, Annual Conference “Initiations: Practices in 1st Year Design in Architecture”


(Current Research Collaborations)

Public Domestic, co-Director w/ Gabriel Fries-Briggs
Funded by the UNM Center for Regional Studies and UNM School of Architecture + Planning, Forthcoming Fall 2022

Exclusions, Edges, and Ecologies, co-Director w/ Jeffrey S. Nesbit
Funded by the UNM Research Allocation Committee and SA+P Internal Faculy Grant, Forthcoming Fall 2023

 

(Select Projects as Associate + Representation Lead of The Open Workshop)

Aging Against the Machine: Drawing Series, RESET Exhibition
Center for Architecture / New York, NY, USA, 2022

House of Commons,
500 Capp Street (David Ireland House), San Francisco, CA, USA, 2022

The Center Won’t Hold,
Chicago Architecture Biennial, Chicago, IL, USA, 2021

Commoning Domestic Space
Venice Architecture Biennale / Venice, IT, 2021

 Depth of Fields House
Lake Edersee, Germany, 2017-Present / In Construction

ReAssemblying the Archive
Seoul Biennale of Architecture & Urbanism, Seoul, South Korea, 2019

New Investigations in Collective Form
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts / San Francisco, CA, USA, 2018

Malleable Monuments
StorefrontLab, San Francisco, CA, USA, 2017

Environment as Politics
Drawings Codes Exhibition, San Francisco, CA, USA, 2017

Scaffoldia
Our City: Oakland Arts Festival, Oakland, CA, USA, 2016

Staging Sheppard
Toronto, ON, CAN, 2015

Varna Public Library and National Archive
Varna Bulgaria, 2015

Dredgescaping Toledo
Toledo, OH, USA, 2014

Steam Stratum

Leipaja, Latvia, 2014

 

Garden of Displaced Roots

Jardins de Métis, QC, CAN, 2013


2021 Faculty Design Award
Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture “Expanded”
Project: New Investigation in Collective Form, w/ Neeraj Bhatia

2021 Internal SA+P Grant
The University of New Mexico School of Architecture + Planning
ProjectPublic Domestic, w/ Gabriel Fries-Briggs

2021 Internal SA+P Grant
The University of New Mexico School of Architecture + Planning,
ProjectExclusions, Edges, and Ecologies (Publication)

2020-2021 New Teacher Award Nominated
The University of New Mexico, Center for Teaching & Learning

2021 WeR1 Faculty Success Grant
The University of New Mexico, Office of Vice President of Research
Project: The Center Won’t Hold - The Bronzesheets

2021 Faculty Development Grant
The University of New Mexico, Center for Regional Studies
Project: Public Domestic, w/ Gabriel Fries-Briggs

2021 Faculty Research Grant
The University of New Mexico, Research Allocation Committee, 2021
Project: Exclusions, Edges, and Ecologies (Research)

2020-2021 Student Experience Project, Implementation Fellow
The University of New Mexico, Center for Teaching & Learning

Resilient Design + Research Fellow, 2018 Resilient by Design: Bay Area Initiative
Project Team: CCA Urban Works, UC Berkeley CED, Landscape Architecture Department, AECOM, CMG Landscape, David Baker Architects