18. TrooRa Magazine The Women’s Issue Spring ’23

From architects to model makers and academics, Tatiana Bilbao ESTUDIO now has nearly 60 team members collaborating on projects throughout the world. While the majority of her plans are designed for towns and cities within her home country of Mexico, her team is also currently working on projects in the USA, Germany, and Spain. Her studio operates where she was born, Mexico City, where her grandfather, Tomás Bilbao Hospitalet, moved from Spain during the war in 1942. Before he became a refugee in Mexico, he was a well-known architect and political figure in Bilbao, Spain. Bilbao says she never met her grandfather, but she grew up with his and her family’s political beliefs. From her early days in the industry, Bilbao always had a strong interest in social and affordable housing. However, she realized there was only one way architects could make a difference. “No one’s coming to knock on our studio door to ask us if we want to do housing,” she told Frame Magazine last year. “So why don’t we become active in the politics of housing?”