Nationality Puerto Rican Role Architect | Name Cruz Garcia Occupation Architect | |
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Books Pure Hardcore Icons: A Manifesto on Pure Form in Architecture Organizations founded WAI Architecture Think Tank | ||
zawia 00 change nathalie frankowski and cruz garcia wai think tank
Cruz Garcia (born 1983, San Juan, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican architect, artist, and architectural theorist. Since 2008 he directs WAI Architecture Think Tank, an architectural practice he founded in Brussels with Nathalie Frankowski, with whom he also collaborates in the art collective Garcia Frankowski. Cruz Garcia relocated to Beijing in 2009 with WAI Architecture Think Tank and Garcia Frankowski.
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Dr j cruz garc a albarado
Background
Cruz Garcia was born on 27 June 1983 in San Juan, Puerto Rico to Cruz "Pensa" Garcia (born 1958) and Lourdes Santiago (born 1959). His father is an international athletic coach and physical trainer. Cruz "Pensa" Garcia trained several Olympic athletes and world boxing champions. Boxers trained by Cruz "Pensa" Garcia include Puerto Rican International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee Felix Trinidad, retired former champion Alex Sanchez, and Argentinean former world champion Marcos Maidana.
Part of a family of athletes and coaches, Cruz and his brother Manuel Garcia (an international runner and CAC Junior Champion), were track and field athletes and trained alongside world class athletes and boxing champions.
A crucial point in Cruz Garcia's studies happened in 2008, during Felix Trinidad's last fight as a professional boxer. In his fight versus former world champion Roy Jones Jr., Trinidad brought Garcia as part of his training team to New York in order for him to complete his research on Narrative Architectures with pieces exposed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Career
After receiving a master's degree in Architecture from the University of Puerto Rico, Cruz Garcia moved from Puerto Rico to Brussels, Belgium, where he founded WAI Architecture Think Tank with Nathalie Frankowski. Also during 2008, Cruz Garcia and Nathalie Frankowski started collaborating on the art collective Garcia Frankowski.
Since 2009 both WAI and Garcia Frankowski operate mainly from Beijing making international publications, exhibitions, writings, and architectural projects from the Chinese capital.
Cruz Garcia is the co-editor-in-chief of What About It? an independent architecture and urbanism magazine.
In 2013 Cruz Garcia and Nathalie Frankowski designed and published the book Pure Hardcore Icons: A Manifesto on Pure Form in Architecture.
Cruz Garcia recent projects include the shortlisted design for the National Centre for Contemporary Arts, in Moscow, Russia, and the book Shapes, Islands, Texts: A Garcia Frankowski Manifesto.
The Work of Cruz Garcia has been exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, Columbus, Chicago, Michigan, Barcelona, Madrid, Bratislava, Buenos Aires, San Juan, Montevideo, Guadalajara, London, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Osaka, Milan, Venice, Istanbul, Prague, Helsinki, Paris, Sydney, Melbourne, Lisbon and Porto.