ATELIER FGP is a rising global practice in Chicago dedicated to elevating the world we inhabit. Under the leadership of its founder, internationally-recognized architect Francisco Gonzalez Pulido, the Atelier provides the creative diversity and depth of Francisco’s international experience built over 30 years on award-winning projects ranging from airports, stadiums, and skyscrapers, to pavilions, university labs, residences, restaurants, and community centers. Francisco created ATELIER FGP to expand the impact a practice can have on our society and our planet.
A design approach that aligns design, science, art, and technology, allows the Atelier to deliver complex projects across a range of scales and typologies. Among our recent works are the new 20/84 MPX Mexico City airport; the Shanghai Financial Exchange Plaza; the first Major League baseball stadium in Mexico for the Diablos Rojos; Shenzhen Gate – a 240,000 m² mix-use complex; a 320 m tall office tower in Guangzhou; a new community center and food bank in Chicago’s South side; an educational pavilion in the Ethnobotanical Gardens of Oaxaca; and the innovative concept for commercial condo buildings, XSPACE. Our projects span the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, and have been recognized globally with awards from peers and trade associations for design excellence, innovation, vitality, and integrity.
Francisco approaches design both rationally and intuitively giving each building its own philosophical and aesthetic expression. The Atelier partners with clients in rigorous, intuitive, technical, and inquisitive design journeys, where inventive and tailored design solutions extol the constantly evolving intersection of building technology and human behavior.
Our architecture relies on multidisciplinary inception and advanced engineering and its implications on context, form, materials, and systems. Design is a collaborative process at the Atelier, where our clients, studio colleagues, and team subconsultants enter the project in its earliest stages, so we can move forward in full agreement and understanding of opportunities and constraints, every step of the way. We take our responsibility as architects seriously and are as mindful of the practical necessities of a project as we are of our clients’ ambitious aspirations.
MANIFESTO
We are idealists and we build.
We strive for the dissolution of physical, social, economic, cultural, and technological barriers. We dream of space of endless connectivity and opportunity for all.
Architecture is legacy. It must be intentional and irreducible in preserving integrity in design and respecting the earth’s resources.
We reject fads, styles, and trends. We value honesty in design, an architecture with purpose founded on the essence of things.
We don’t create images. We design open-ended systems, receptive to continuous evolution.
As technology continues to impose a reality that unifies our experiences, and globalization dilutes our cultural differences, architecture must strengthen the characteristics that make us enigmatic and attractive to other cultures.
We reflect relentlessly on how weightless, transparent, immaterial, and invisible architecture should be. Lightness is an ethical question.
We value transparency, openness, and freedom—in our processes, collaborations, and all we create.
We are open to the thoughtful, the audacious, the conscious, the ambitious, the responsible, the innovative, the unpredictable, the revolutionary.
ATELIER FGP is a rising global practice in Chicago dedicated to elevating the world we inhabit. Under the leadership of its founder, internationally-recognized architect Francisco Gonzalez Pulido, the Atelier provides the creative diversity and depth of Francisco’s international experience built over 30 years on award-winning projects ranging from airports, stadiums, and skyscrapers, to pavilions, university labs, residences, restaurants, and community centers. Francisco created ATELIER FGP to expand the impact a practice can have on our society and our planet.
A design approach that aligns design, science, art, and technology, allows the Atelier to deliver complex projects across a range of scales and typologies. Among our recent works are the new 20/84 MPX Mexico City airport; the Shanghai Financial Exchange Plaza; the first Major League baseball stadium in Mexico for the Diablos Rojos; Shenzhen Gate – a 240,000 m² mix-use complex; a 320 m tall office tower in Guangzhou; a new community center and food bank in Chicago’s South side; an educational pavilion in the Ethnobotanical Gardens of Oaxaca; and the innovative concept for commercial condo buildings, XSPACE. Our projects span the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, and have been recognized globally with awards from peers and trade associations for design excellence, innovation, vitality, and integrity.
Francisco approaches design both rationally and intuitively giving each building its own philosophical and aesthetic expression. The Atelier partners with clients in rigorous, intuitive, technical, and inquisitive design journeys, where inventive and tailored design solutions extol the constantly evolving intersection of building technology and human behavior.
Our architecture relies on multidisciplinary inception and advanced engineering and its implications on context, form, materials, and systems. Design is a collaborative process at the Atelier, where our clients, studio colleagues, and team subconsultants enter the project in its earliest stages, so we can move forward in full agreement and understanding of opportunities and constraints, every step of the way. We take our responsibility as architects seriously and are as mindful of the practical necessities of a project as we are of our clients’ ambitious aspirations.
DESIGN APPROACH
Our work is based on the continued belief that our buildings are more than objects or developments. They create spaces that influence people’s daily lives and initiate city developments and as such they need to consider the context they are inserted in and create opportunities for the advancement of sustainable communities.
We do not pursue styles or signatures, but we strive for ‘performance’. Our architecture relies on multidisciplinary inception and advanced engineering and its implications on context, materials, and systems.
We believe in a holistic approach in which rational, technical, constructional, and technological factors shape the building’s image through systems and components. Our architecture represents a continuing evolution from a technological approach towards social impact.
Over decades we have acquired vast technological knowledge and extensive experience in construction. We use state of the art tools to better assist the design process. Our expertise in sustainable design is the result of many years of research on built and un-built projects and of data collection from completed buildings.
In collaboration with our consulting structural engineers, we lead the research in lightweight design. We believe that lightness resonates in our civilization, cities, and lives. We strive for beauty through knowledge, innovation, and intelligent use of resources. Our goal is to influence and change lives through design, in which the art of engineering and architecture unite to create a timeless experience.
Good Design requires teamwork across all disciplines including our clients, only together we can invent. Communication is a critical aspect to the success of a project. Collaboration and discussion are essential platforms for creativity and innovation. We are committed to our clients to ensure the delivery of excellence while minimizing the use of resources from design to construction.
We constantly review the design, detailing and progress of each project, both formally and informally, to ensure that the original design intent is delivered to FGP Atelier’s quality standards. The depth and quality of the documents we produce during all the phases of the project is a representation of these standards and it’s mirrored by the results achieved in our completed buildings.
FGP / FRANCISCO GONZALEZ PULIDO
CEO and Founding Principal, Atelier FGP
Francisco Gonzalez Pulido has been practicing architecture for 30 years. Driven by a passion for building significant landmarks whose lasting values lie in performance, Francisco has amassed a deep and wide portfolio of projects around the world. Science guides his work. He believes in a holistic approach to design where rational, technical, behavioral, and technological factors shape the building’s image through systems and components.
Francisco started his eponymous firm, ATELIER FGP, in 2017 after spending 20 years growing through the ranks of Murphy/Jahn, eventually becoming a partner and its president. Born in Mexico City, Francisco Gonzalez Pulido earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Monterey Tec and soon after began his career as an architect and builder. His interest in science, technology, and business took him next to Harvard Graduate School of Design to complete his education with a master’s degree, and to MIT where he collaborated with media artist Krzysztof Wodiczko, who would be highly influential in the formation of his design philosophy.
Motorcycles, Yves St. Laurent, guitars, child labor activism, and animal rights protection are personal passions that bleed into his work, as vigor, fluidity, risk, detail, and humanity color his designs, processes, and management style. Francisco is a board member of FACETS, a film organization that promotes the Children’s International Film Festival. Each year, he sponsors a Mexican student to come in his office in Chicago under his wing, all expenses paid. He has built ATELIER FGP with long-time colleagues whom he considers family. Committed to advancing architecture, Francisco is a frequent lecturer and has been an invited professor at universities in United States, Latin America, and Europe. His work has been honored by design awards from his peers and client associations and has been exhibited at multiple cultural and educational venues. The Atelier’s monograph “Progression” was published in 2021 by Hatje Kantz Verlag.
“Building light. Lightness is physical and metaphysical. Lightness is about less of everything, to minimize, to simplify. It is the endless search for boundaries in architecture. Going to the limit of things. How invisible can we make something that still protects us. How lightweight can we make something that balances natural forces. Lightness is performance. I strive for lightness, as I believe it is a concept that resonates deeply with our civilization, cities, and lives.”
FGP / FRANCISCO GONZALEZ PULIDO
CEO and Founding Principal, Atelier FGP
“Building light. Lightness is physical and metaphysical. Lightness is about less of everything, to minimize, to simplify. It is the endless search for boundaries in architecture. Going to the limit of things. How invisible can we make something that still protects us. How lightweight can we make something that balances natural forces. Lightness is performance. I strive for lightness, as I believe it is a concept that resonates deeply with our civilization, cities, and lives.”
Francisco Gonzalez Pulido has been practicing architecture for 30 years. Driven by a passion for building significant landmarks whose lasting values lie in performance, Francisco has amassed a deep and wide portfolio of projects around the world. Science guides his work. He believes in a holistic approach to design where rational, technical, behavioral, and technological factors shape the building’s image through systems and components.
Francisco started his eponymous firm, ATELIER FGP, in 2017 after spending 20 years growing through the ranks of Murphy/Jahn, eventually becoming a partner and its president. Born in Mexico City, Francisco Gonzalez Pulido earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Monterey Tec and soon after began his career as an architect and builder. His interest in science, technology, and business took him next to Harvard Graduate School of Design to complete his education with a master’s degree, and to MIT where he collaborated with media artist Krzysztof Wodiczko, who would be highly influential in the formation of his design philosophy.
Motorcycles, Yves St. Laurent, guitars, child labor activism, and animal rights protection are personal passions that bleed into his work, as vigor, fluidity, risk, detail, and humanity color his designs, processes, and management style. Francisco is a board member of FACETS, a film organization that promotes the Children’s International Film Festival. Each year, he sponsors a Mexican student to come in his office in Chicago under his wing, all expenses paid. He has built ATELIER FGP with long-time colleagues whom he considers family. Committed to advancing architecture, Francisco is a frequent lecturer and has been an invited professor at universities in United States, Latin America, and Europe. His work has been honored by design awards from his peers and client associations and has been exhibited at multiple cultural and educational venues. The Atelier’s monograph “Progression” was published in 2021 by Hatje Kantz Verlag.
ATELIER FGP / LEADERSHIP
GERGANA VELICHKOVA
Co-founder and Design Principal
MATTHEW STYMIEST
Principal and Studio Director
JOSEPH LARSON
Principal and Director of Technology
DANILO MEDINA
Design Associate Principal
MANIFESTO
We are idealists and we build.
We strive for the dissolution of physical, social, economic, cultural, and technological barriers. We dream of space of endless connectivity and opportunity for all.
Architecture is legacy. It must be intentional and irreducible in preserving integrity in design and respecting the earth’s resources.
We reject fads, styles, and trends. We value honesty in design, an architecture with purpose founded on the essence of things.
We don’t create images. We design open-ended systems, receptive to continuous evolution.
As technology continues to impose a reality that unifies our experiences, and globalization dilutes our cultural differences, architecture must strengthen the characteristics that make us enigmatic and attractive to other cultures.
We reflect relentlessly on how weightless, transparent, immaterial, and invisible architecture should be. Lightness is an ethical question.
We value transparency, openness, and freedom—in our processes, collaborations, and all we create.
We are open to the thoughtful, the audacious, the conscious, the ambitious, the responsible, the innovative, the unpredictable, the revolutionary.
ATELIER FGP TEAM SINCE 2017
LIANKA BEDESCHI
PATRICK BROWN
MARCOS ESCAMILLA
SOFIA FERNANDEZ
MIHIR GHOTANKAR
ANA FERNANDA GONZALEZ
MALHAR KATE
HIMANGSHU KEDIA
JOHN LUCAS
LINCHAO MA
DANIEL MARQUINA
NEETI MENON
CARLOS MOTIN
PATRICK MURRAY
MARA NUYENS
MARIO PLIEGO
DAVID QUINTANILLA
VICTOR REYES
PAOLA RIOS
TYLER ROSAS
CARMEN RUBIO
JOHN SCHRADER
IRVING SHEN
WALKER THISTED
YUEYANG WANG
SHUYING XI
HAORAN XU
RAFAEL ZAMORA
RECENT AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
USA AWARDS
AIA Chicago, Design Excellence Awards, ARCH XL, Citations of Merit, Shanghai International Financial Center
CTBUH, finalist Best Tall Building 200-299M, Shanghai International Financial Center
2021
American Architecture awards, Best Airports and Transportation, Felipe Angeles International airport
2021
American Architecture awards, Best Retail/Showroom, Smart Salon
2020
American Architecture awards, Diablos Rojos Baseball Stadium
2020
American Architecture awards, Diablos Rojos Baseball Stadium
2019
2019
2018
2018
INTERNATIONAL AWARDS
2022
2022
2021
2020
2020
2020
Rethinking the Future Awards, First Award, Fashion, Lifestyle, and Accessories, Smart Salon
2019
Noldi Schreck Award, Glocal Design Magazine, 1st Place, Diablos Rojos Baseball Stadium
2019
Architecture Masterprize, Honorable mention, Diablos Rojos Baseball Stadium
2019
Premio Iberoamericano Building of the Year
2019
2019
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
“PROGRESSION”
Hatje Cantz Berlin
572 pages / 2021
“ESPECIES”
FGP Atelier
281 pages / 2018
FORBES MEXICO
2021
NEW AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE
Diablos Rojos Stadium
Metropolitan Art Press / 2021
LINKS TO SELECTED ARTICLES
30 Technology-Driven Projects Point to Our Future: In Conversation with Francisco Gonzalez-Pulido
Transparente The Rectoría at Monterrey Tec’ Renovation / FGP Atelier
FGP Atelier Begins Construction of Guangzhou International Cultural Center in China
FGP Atelier + Taller ADG Design “Devil Tail” Baseball Stadium in Mexico City
Forecasting the Future of Sports Architecture with 10 Newly Built Stadiums around the World
“I Want to Build Lighter”: Francisco Gonzalez Pulido of FGP Atelier
Selección 2022 | El AIFA que construyó el Ejército no es lo que yo diseñé:
Arquitecto Francisco González
Atelier FGP
1550 W Carroll Ave, ste 215
Chicago, IL 60607
USA
+1 312 291 9191
- Clients: bd@fgp-atelier.com
- Media: pr@fgp-atelier.com
- Careers: hr@fgp-atelier.com
- Other: info@fgp-atelier.com
