Architect Michel Rojkind uses HP solution to present
winning Tamayo Museum design
Mexico’s Tamayo Museum of Contemporary Art—home to
an important collection of both Mexican and international
art and named after one of the country’s greatest
painters of the twentieth century, Rufino Tamayo—recently
organized an architectural competition to design a new
building at Atizapán (in the State of Mexico), which
would not only store the many works of art not currently
on show but also include ample exhibition space of its
own, effectively becoming a sister museum to the space-
strapped original building in downtown Mexico City.
Mexican architect Michel Rojkind, whose practice is based
in the federal capital and has been rated among the top
10 design vanguard firms in the world, teamed up with
Danish colleagues, BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) Architects
and won the competition with a design for a cantilevered
building, the form of which when viewed from above
is inescapably, and somewhat controversially, that of a
cross—but more about the shape later.
Cemeteries, jails, and buildings with soul
For Rojkind, architecture is successful only when it
produces buildings that have soul. We asked him how
he goes about ensuring his creations are endowed with
this ethereal quality. “If the project is done with enough
research to be intelligent enough,” he said, “it already
has a certain soul, a certain intuition of being. But then
many things have to come together, not only the architect
finishing his or her beautiful building, but the way in which
people use it, how it ages over time, and the magic that
is felt when working or moving inside the space. Buildings
get filled with energy by people coming in and out and
by the experiences they have there. We’ve all experienced
© 2009, Glessner Group [www.glessnergroup.com]
a certain energy when walking through a cemetery, and
there’s also a definite energy in a jail. There are some
buildings you enter, and it’s just magical; it’s magical
because of how the light comes in, or because of the
silence, or the way the sound bounces off the walls. I try
to relate buildings to people: you meet some that are like
dead men or women walking; they don’t seem to have
any soul or even to be aware that they are alive. That
happens also in architecture. You get something that was
meant to look beautiful—the architect spent a lot of money
on this façade—but it’s like the newest pair of sunglasses,
there’s nothing behind it. He or she used a disguise so
that people would immediately say, ‘Ah, it’s shiny!’ but it
doesn’t go any deeper.”
Not your grandmother’s house
When working on residential houses, Rojkind personalizes
every design by getting to know his clients and capturing
their individuality or the dynamics operating within a
family. “You have the first approach by perhaps the
husband or the wife who wants to do the house,” he said.
“You sit down and talk, maybe have a cup of coffee,
but then you want to meet the kids; you want to meet
everybody who’s going to live in the house. Some clients
used to come with books and point to pictures and say, ‘I
want a house like this one,’ but the first thing I ask them
© 2009, Glessner Group [www.glessnergroup.com]
is why they would want to live in something that looks
like their grandmother’s house. If you’re a person living
in 2009 or 2010, and you have your kids, and you
want to educate them in a certain way, and you have a
partner who lives in a certain way, why not let the house
that you’re sharing with your family express its own way
of how the family comes together? It’s a house for that
specific family and should not be repeated, because
there are no two families alike. I’ve had some clients say,
‘Oh, no, no, but I don’t want to get too emotional or too
extroverted to tell you stories so that you can design our
house. I’m going to another architect.’ And to me, it’s
fine, because I would never do a house for one client and
then repeat it for another. Now fortunately we are getting
clients that know the architecture we are doing, and they
are open to considering the things we propose to them.”
Symbolism of the Tamayo cross?
Why then, when the Tamayo Museum project came
around, with the clients requesting a cross-shaped
building, did Rojkind give them more or less exactly
what they asked for? “Yes, they handed us a very thick
binder,” he said, “with very strict, very specific instructions.
It was like, ‘These are the diagrams, this is how the
museum should work, and these are the floor plans.’ It
was crazy, because they were inviting architects to enter
a competition, and at the same time they were telling
us all what to do. At the beginning we decided to go
off in a different direction with the design, but then we
stopped and said, ‘Why don’t we give them the original
floor plan?’ Perhaps it was initially to be ironic, but we
grabbed the binder, and when we superimposed the cross
on the site, and it floated on the ground, it was beautiful.”
Some critics—some admiringly, others disparagingly—
read religious symbolism into the shape of the building,
and perhaps this was the intention of the clients when they
went for a cross in their original plans. Rojkind disagrees.
“I think that in their own naïve way of explaining how the
museum should work best,” he said, “it just turned out to
be that shape. It wasn’t a perfect cross, but it was almost
that, and then we streamlined it. Of course, this is Mexico,
where religion is a big thing, so, having a cross for a
museum might be seen as having some great symbolism,
and, looking at it on Google Earth, you are indeed going
to see a cross on a hillside, but the shape was logically
derived from the way the museum would operate. It was
perfect for what the clients wanted, and I’m happy about
that. In any case, this is a museum of contemporary art,
which is supposed to get people talking. I don’t mind
critics saying, ‘Ah, it’s a cross.’ A cross symbolizes a lot of
things. We could also call it the ‘T’ of ‘Tamayo,’ because
it’s a Tamayo museum. We were not shy about presenting
it as a cross, not at all.”
In fact the Dano-Mexican partnership presented its design
to the competition’s organizers, not as a Christian cross,
but as the cruciform of an opened-out cubic box. “I
believe that what convinced them to give us the project
was this idea of a box opening up,” said Rojkind. “The
building’s initial purpose was to store different works
of art on a rotational basis, but then the idea of being
more transparent and democratic gained currency and
was incorporated into the plans. We call it the open box
because in Mexico it will be the first museum where the
general public can visit the storage space. We decided
to make the combined storage and exhibition space,
an exhibition in itself, where people come in and see
the trucks arriving with the art, the wooden crates being
unpacked, photographs being taken, restoration being
done, and pieces being installed on site. In Europe,
that’s very common. The clients really liked the idea that
everything become an exhibition space.”
Sustainable architectural features
Another factor that contributed to Rojkind and BIG being
awarded the project was the sustainability features of their
design. “First of all, for its size, the building intervenes as
little as possible on the landscape,” said Rojkind. “Only
two parts of the cross are touching the ground; the other
two are cantilevered. So we’re not using too much of
the ground. Then the terrace where people arrive at the
museum—in fact, it’s on the rooftop—is a water-collecting
space, which is important in this arid area. Also, the
façade is perforated to avoid a build up of heat inside the
building. The walls will be made of a very nice, glazed
brick that’s done in Mexico by a Mexican company. Air
will flow through this ventilated façade, so you’ll have a
cool interior climate at the right temperature to protect the
works of art. This natural ventilation means people will be
able to walk around in a very comfortable environment,
and it reduces the amount of mechanical equipment
needed for air conditioning. We’re also using some
hybrid lighting, half electric and half natural light, which is
filtered upon entering the space. The only place that you
have exposed glass is underneath the cross. The 90-meter
(300-foot) cantilevers shade everything below them, so you
never get the sun hitting the glass side.”
 © 2009, Glessner Group [www.glessnergroup.com]
Blown away by the presentation quality
It goes without saying that the new Tamayo Museum design
was presented spectacularly for the competition, Rojkind’s
office being known for doing a good job in creating clear
and attractive collateral to explain its plans. “We are
aggressive in pushing not only the limits of architecture,”
said the architect, “but also those of graphic design and
project presentation. There are only 14 people working in our
office, and we concentrate here on the research and design
drive of the projects, the visual part of the buildings, and the
visual experience. Technical consultants and other invited
disciplines under our supervision help us get everything
completed, so we can remain very flexible, but here we are
very visually driven, creating and printing renderings and
competition posters and other things that will get the clients
motivated. We frequently work in multimedia too: we do
Flash presentations, Director, QuickTime, always working on
how best to ensure the clients understand the design. It’s the
safest way to work. When your clients know exactly what
you’re talking about, and they know that you know exactly
what you’re talking about, then by the time you start to build
something, everything goes really smoothly. With photo-
realistic renderings and the highest image quality possible,
they see that the wood is wood and the concrete is concrete.
Before we got our current software and printing technology,
we would have to explain that sort of thing to them, and we
could end up with some awkward misunderstandings.”
In the early stages of every project, whether big or small,
the office presents a professionally finished book of colorful
renderings and plans to the clients. “Small details make up
the big thing,” said Rojkind. “The clients realize that if you’re
concerned about the detail of a book, you’re going to be
concerned about the detail of the building being built. So it
just makes them more comfortable in the process.” For the
Tamayo Museum competition, the firm used its HP Designjet
T1100 Printer, with HP Vivera inks, to print presentation
material in-house. “The clients congratulated us not only
on the project, but also on the way it was presented,” said
Rojkind. “When they saw the quality of the renderings, they
were blown away. Also, we are constantly working with
graphic designers and collaborating with a lot of different
creative people. We tried to think of as many innovative ways
as possible to present the cross graphically. So we printed
colorful placards whose supports at the back were in the
shape of the building, and we printed books, each of which
was contained in a box that opened up to form the cross
shape. The cover of the box was done by a very nice local
girl who specializes in handcrafts. She sewed everything up
by hand, which added another nice touch to the finished
presentation, because, although an architectural project
can be very technical, in the end it has to be very human.”
High-quality prints for multiple specialists
The office has been using the HP Designjet T1100 Printer
for over two years and recently installed the new HP
Designjet T1120 SD-MFP Multi-Function Printer. “Even
though we’re an architectural firm, a lot of other people
visit our office,” said Rojkind. “The HP printers are
very practical solutions, not only for architects, but for
photographers, graphic designers, industrial designers,
everybody that’s involved in our projects. It’s incredible to
see. The industrial designer prints a 1:1-scale chair for a
restaurant we are doing, then the graphic designer prints
a booklet, and we print a rendering. Mercedes Benz
shot two of our projects as backgrounds for their recent
marketing campaign, and Porsche was also here to do
another of our buildings for their new Panamera model.
We printed out their images on the HP Designjet T1120
SD-MFP, using HP Vivera ink and HP Premium Plus Satin
Photo Paper, and the quality is amazing. So, if somebody
is looking for precision lines, we have them; if somebody
is looking for precision colors and great image quality, we
have those too.”
Clean prints, with a satin matte feel
HP Premium Plus Satin Photo Paper is the paper that
Rojkind prefers to print on. “Since we’re very picky about
the way we present,” he said, “we experiment with a lot
with different papers, but from the time we first started
working with HP papers a couple of years ago, we
selected HP Premium Plus Satin Photo Paper as one of our
best. I like the satin matte feel to it. When you handle it,
you don’t get the grease of your hands on the images. It
works great. We also do tests of image durability, and
this is important because I imagine clients having the
renderings up on the wall for a long time. I have some
images hanging in my office that I printed on the HP
Designjet T1100 Printer two years ago, and they’re still
perfect; the colors are still the same.” There are also three
other papers that the architect uses regularly: “HP Super
Heavyweight Plus Matte Paper is another one that works
perfectly for final printing of renderings,” he said, “while
HP Translucent Bond Paper is excellent for final complete
sets of large-scale technical drawings. The one we like for
everyday reviews and writing comments on is HP Bright
White Inkjet Paper.”
At a glance Quickly converting sketches to drawing files
Rojkind wishes his office had already had its new HP
Name: Rojkind Arquitectos
Designjet T1120 SD-MFP Multi-Function Printer when the
Industry sector: Architecture Tamayo Museum project was being developed. “The new
machine includes a scanner,” he said. “If we had had that
Business founded: 2002
at the time, things would have been even easier. It would
Number of employees: 14 have saved us time. Before, I would sketch something and
give it to the team, and then they would redo it on the
Business address: computer. Now they just scan it, and it’s converted to a
Campos Eliseos, 432 .dxf or .dwg file. We’re getting the drawing files straight
Col. Polanco from the scanner, and the transformation makes it an
México D.F. 11560 incredibly fast process.” He also highlighted the ability
Telephone: to communicate with the HP printers though the Internet
+(52 55) 5280-8396 using HP Web Jetadmin software. “It’s something I really
+(52 55) 5280 8521 love,” he said. “You’re monitoring everything that is being
printed: from which computer a file was sent, who printed
Web site:
what, at what time. Sometimes I go to one of the people
www.rojkindarquitectos.com in the office and say, ‘What about this? It was printed
E-mail: outside of office hours!’—just to see their reaction,”
info@rojkindarquitectos.com Rojkind smiled. “If I’m doing a lecture in some other
country, I can obviously talk to my staff on the phone, but
I can also see exactly what they were printing, which is a
really nice feature to have.”
Financial crisis with a silver lining
The architect sees big changes taking place in the industry
and suggests that the worldwide economic downturn is
likely to bring about positive developments in the long-run.
“Everybody talks about the crisis, and a lot of people who
were investing in real estate are not doing so anymore.
Clients are saving their money for other things. We’re
going through a tough phase, but I think it will bring us
back to reality. Buildings that are simply beautiful will no
longer be built. They will need to have a lot of different
things interweaved in them besides being just nice
buildings. In the recent boom years, it was absurd, all this
competition about who had the biggest building and the
most expensive building and the most important museum
in the world. Now we’re going to go back to basics, to
the questions, ‘Is the building doing something social? Is it
doing something sustainable? Is it doing something for the
community?’ If these different aspects are all tied in, then
the projects will go ahead. The architect needs to bring in
the investors, government, environmentalists, sociologists.
Architectural projects will need to pass tougher criteria
before approval. Sustainability-wise, I’m thinking a step
further: not only will buildings produce their own energy,
they’ll also generate energy for the community around
them. ‘What will a building be able to produce for others,
besides the building?’ I think this is something we will be
hearing in the near future and which will actually make a
difference. It’s another element to make up the building’s
soul.”
Challenge
• Enter the architectural competition to design the
new Tamayo Museum and impress the judges,
not only by presenting a beautiful, functional,
sustainable, and social design, but also by ensuring
that the quality and innovativeness of the project
presentation materials are motivating, clear, and
reassuring.
Solution
• The office recently installed the new HP Designjet
T1120 SD-MFP Multi-Function Printer in addition to its
existing HP Designjet T1100 Printer. Both machines
use HP Vivera inks.
• HP Premium Plus Satin Photo Paper
• HP Super Heavyweight Plus Matte Paper
• HP Translucent Bond Paper
• HP Bright White Inkjet Paper
• HP Web Jetadmin Software
• Handcrafted additions to presentation material
Results
• Rojkind Arquitectos, in collaboration with Danish
firm, BIG Architects, won the Tamayo Museum
competition, being lauded not only on the project
itself, but also on its presentation
• Technology adoption by a wide range of industry
professionals: Thanks to their multiple applications,
with precision lines, accurate colors, and high
image quality, the office’s HP printers are used by
architects, photographers, graphic designers, and
industrial designers
• Projects stand out among the competition thanks to
professional, high-quality concept drawings, printed
on HP Premium Plus Satin Photo Paper for its good
texture and lack of staining from greasy hands
• Fast digital visualization of plans thanks to a quicker
design process using the new HP Designjet T1120
SD-MFP, whose scanner converts hand-drawn
sketches into digital drawing files

“We are aggressive in pushing not only the limits of

architecture, but also those of graphic design and project
presentation.”
— Michel Rojkind, Rojkind Arquitectos, Mexico City, Mexico

To learn more, visit www.hp.com

©2009 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties
for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should
be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.
All images © 2009, Glessner Group [www.glessnergroup.com]
4AA2-9533ENW, September 2009.