Teddy Cruz (born 1962 in Guatemala City, Guatemala) is an American architect, urbanist, Professor in Architecture and Urbanism in the Visual Arts Department at the University of California, San Diego.[2] Cruz studied at Rafael Landivar University in Guatemala City, Guatemala, but moved to the United States at the age of 20,[3] continuing his education at California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, and the Harvard Graduate School of Design in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Teddy Cruz
Teddy Cruz at the See-Conference 2015
Born1962 (age 61–62)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materRafael Landivar University, BA, 1982
California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, B.Arch, 1987
Harvard Graduate School of Design, M.Des.S, 1997
OccupationArchitect
AwardsRome Prize in Architecture(1991)[1]
Global Award for Sustainable Architecture (2011)
PracticeEstudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman
DesignConstruction durable

Cruz is the founder and president of Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman, a research-based political and architectural practice based in San Diego. This is built in partnership with University of California, San Diego political theorist, Fonna Forman. Cruz and Forman lead a variety of urban curatorial initiatives, including The Civic Innovation Lab in the City of San Diego to rethink public space and civic engagement; the UCSD Cross-Border Initiative to promote research and practice focused on regional territories of poverty; and the UCSD Community Stations, to foster corridors of knowledge exchange between the university and marginalized communities. Additionally, they collaborated with former Bogota Mayor Antanas Mockus to develop the Bi-national Citizenship Culture Survey, an unprecedented protocol that surveyed cross-border civic infrastructure, public trust and social norms. Their aim is to generate new shared urban policies between the municipalities of San Diego and Tijuana, as well as collaborative strategies for cross-border urban intervention.

Cruz's architectural and intellectual projects have been exhibited at internationally renowned venues, including: the Tijuana Cultural Center, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Carnegie Museum of Art, Walker Art Center, San Francisco Art Institute, Casa de America in Madrid, Spain, and Small Scale, Big Change: New Architectures of Social Engagement[4][5] at the Museum of Modern Art. Apart from his design work, Cruz's project at UCSD, Community Stations, champions the mutual exchange of knowledge between universities and communities, the latter of which he feels have their own valuable resources and assets that are often overlooked.[6]

References

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  1. ^ "California: Architects: Office Profiles". california-architects.com/. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  2. ^ "Department of Visual Arts – UCSD". visarts.ucsd.edu/. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  3. ^ Cruz, Teddy (May 2011). "Latin American Meander: In Search of a New Civic Imagination". Architectural Design. 81 (3): 110. doi:10.1002/ad.1248.
  4. ^ "MoMA - Small Scale, Big Change - Casa Familiar: Living Rooms at the Border and Senior Housing with Childcare". moma.org. Archived from the original on 2010-10-17.
  5. ^ "Small Scale Big Change". moma.org. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  6. ^ Cruz, Teddy (2012). "A Conversation with Teddy Cruz". Syracuse Architecture. 13: 33–34.
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