María Sánchez is an architect of Guatemala. In 1995, Ms Sánchez graduated from the Architecture Faculty of the Francisco Marroquin University in Guatemala. In 2000 she was awarded an MA in Architecture from the University of Notre Dame (USA), having obtained distinction for excellence in architectural design. Ms Sánchez was honored for her academic excellence with the Ferguson, Shamammian and Rattner Graduate Prize. She has lectured at both the Francisco Marroquin University and the University of Notre Dame in recent years. Ms Sánchez is a member of the Architecture Advisory Council of the University of Notre Dame and is also a member of the Friends Council of the Universidad del Istmo in Guatemala.
Work
María Sánchez is the Deputy Director of Estudio Urbano, a firm based in Guatemala which specializes in traditional architecture, urban planning and landscape architecture. Ms Sánchez collaborates with her partner, Pedro Godoy on a wide range of projects from low cost housing units to restorations of historic centers. Currently they are working together with the renowned urbanist Léon Krier on the extension of the historical city of Cayalá, the largest city extension of this kind in Guatemala; and on two new towns located on the Caribbean Coast of Guatemala and in the historical city of Antigua Guatemala.
As an academic, Ms Sánchez has coordinated several lectures on Classical Art at the Universidad Francisco Marroquín. She has also worked as a consultant on the establishment of a new university in her native Guatemala. In the past she lectured at the Notre Dame University on Three generations of Classical Architects. Third Generation: The Renewal of Modern Architecture (2005) and at the Universidad Francisco Marroquin on a number of occasions in 2005, 2002 and 2000.
María Sánchez also works as a consultant in the field of traditional architecture and urbanism, having undertaken commissions in Italy, the United States of America, Ecuador and Guatemala. Currently she is collaborating with South Bay Developers on a residential project in Key Biscayne (USA), and on another project in the city of Guayaquil in Ecuador.
The work of María Sánchez has been widely awarded. In 2007 she received the First Prize in the Private Architectural Competition from the Hacienda Santa Lucia, Guatemala. In 2005 she was the winner of the First Prize in the National Design Competition and Urban Planning, Minimal Rural Housing competition in Santa Rosa, Guatemala. In 1996 she received First Prize for the Marsham, Street Urban Design Competition in London for a project developed together with Tagliaventi & Associates. In 1994, she was awarded the Diploma for Excellence in Architectural Design from the Universidad Francisco Marroqu√≠n University in Guatemala.
María Sánchez’s work has been exhibited at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London, at the University of Bologna in Italy, at the M.O.C.A. in Miami, USA and at the El Sitio gallery in Antigua, Guatemala. A number of her projects have also been covered in publications such as The Classicist, The New Herald in Miami and in the Guatemalan media.
Further details
ARQ. MARIA FERNANDA SANCHEZ
ARQ. PEDRO PABLO GODOY
DIRECTORES ESTUDIO URBANO
DIRECTORES SOCIEDAD DE ARTE CIVICO
DIRECTORES SOCIEDAD DE BIOURBANISMO GUATEMALA
ASESORES DE LA UNIVERSIDAD DE NOTRE DAME
Km. 14.5 Carretera a El Salvador
Portal Puerta Parada
2ndo. Nivel, Oficina 3
Guatemala ciudad.
T. (502) 6637-9510 / 6637-4769
E.info@estudiourbano.com.gt
W. www.estudiourbano.com.gt
W. www. biourbanism.org
