Born San José, Costa Rica (1959). Moved to the United States in 1974. Graduated from the University of Houston School of Architecture in 1981, receiving awards for best thesis project and best portfolio. Established own office in Houston in 1982. Visiting professor at Rice University (1997, 1994, 1987), Texas A & M University (1989, 1987), Southern California Institute of Architecture (1991, 1990), UCLA (1990), University of Texas at Arlington (1990-1996), University if Houston (1994, 1991), Williams College (1994), University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain (2002, 1995), Harvard University Graduate School of Design (1997, 1996), Tulane University (1996), University of Texas at Austin (2004, 1997), University of California, Berkeley (1999), University of Oregon (2000). Lecturer, juror, and visiting critic at universities and cultural institutions throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Japan. Tenured professor at Rice University School of Architecture (2000). Jury member of the Pritzker Architecture Prize (2001-2010).
Awards and honors for excellence in design include the AIA Houston Educator of the Year Award (2009), AIA Houston Honor Award (2008, 2007), Tecnologico de Monterrey at Queretaro Academic Leader Award (2010, 2009), Rice University Charles Duncan Award (2006), Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Award (2004), Architectural Record Record Houses Award (2001, 1996, 1994, 1990), AIA Indianapolis Honor Awards (2003), Architecture (2002), Progressive Architecture Young Architects (1987), Architectural League of New York Young Architects (1988) and Emerging Voices (1994), Forty Under Forty (1995), Tulane University First Favrot Chair in Architecture (1996), UT Austin McDermott Visiting Professor (1997) and Ruth Carter Stevenson Chair in Architecture (2004), Harvard University Eliot Noyes Visiting Design Professor (1997), Universidad del Diseño Doctor Honoris Causa (1998), UC Berkeley Friedman Visiting Professor (2000), University of Oregon Pietro Belluschi Distinguished Visiting Professor (2000). Work exhibited at museums and galleries in Houston, New York, Los Angeles, Moscow, Montreal, Santa Monica, Austin, Mexico City, Manhattan-Kansas, Williamstown, New Orleans, Fort Worth, Chicago, Cambridge, Arrecife-Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Kansas City, Dallas, Greencastle, Greenwich, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia.
