B.Arch. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Advance Design Studies, CSU, Florence, Italy
M.S. in Architecture Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT
Hector M Perez was born in 1960 in Guadalajara, Mexico and migrated to the United States with his family in 1974. From 1982-86 he studied architecture at the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and from 1986 to ’87 he completed his Upper Division Architectural Design Courses in Florence, Italy. Upon graduation, Perez returned to his native Mexico and for 5 years traveled extensively through Europe, Latin America & Asia as member of the Mexican National Track Team.
In 1993, after working briefly at TEN Arquitectos in Mexico City, Hector M Perez moved to San Diego, CA and co-founded a studio with Teddy Cruz (OdA) that yielded an interesting mixture of academic and professional projects. In 1997, Perez was granted a two-year fellowship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to pursue graduate studies. Upon completion of his SMArchS degree in 1999, Hector returned to California and in September of 1999 he founded a small studio (De-Arc) in La Jolla. Hector combines his design practice with artistic and academic explorations. His small and unorthodox practice affords him the ability to work solo as well as collaboratively on projects of a wide range of programs, budgets and locations. Perez has collaborated among others with RNT Architects, Spurlock Poirier Landscape Architects and Luce et Studio in San Diego and over the last few years, he has worked on public and private projects, including a 20,000 sf Community Library for South Oxnard, an Automobile Museum (AUTO-MUSE) in Balboa Park and Lifeguard stations for La Jolla Shores & Cove Beaches. Other smaller scale projects include environments/sets for an outdoor opera at UCSD, information centers for in-SITE 2000-01 and a private residence in Carlsbad, California. Throughout his career, Perez has received several awards, including; an MIT Council for the Arts travel grant in 1999, Faculty Development Grant (NSA+D) in 2010 and a Merit Award from the AIA San Diego Chapter for the LJ Shores Lifeguard project in 2013 and an Orchid Award for La Esquina Mixed in 2013. His collages have been exhibited throughout southern California and his design work has been featured in several publications such as CASAS Internacional, Progressive Architecture, Global Architecture, LA CAJA de Arquitectura, the San Diego Union Tribune, Riviera SD and Dwell Magazine. Perez has been an adjunct faculty member at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles, NewSchool of Architecture + Design and has taught design workshops at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and the Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) in Mexico.
Currently, Perez is Graduate Programs Coordinator at Woodbury School of Architecture in San Diego and in November 2012 completed ‘La Esquina’ (a mixed-use project in Barrio Logan) allowing him to expand his professional practice into a ‘Design-Develop mode’