Lima, Peru
Session 5: Feb 9 – April 10, 2009

Ms. Leon is an architect based in Lima, Peru. She has dedicated years of investigation to the Peruvian coastal desert, where she has designed and built the majority of her projects. In 1996, Leon established her own architecture studio, leondelima, which also serves as a platform for her research on desert architecture and design. She received her professional degree from the Department of Architecture and Urbanism at the Universidad Ricardo Palma in Lima.

Alexia Leon Public Presentation, 4/7/09

Alexia Leon focused upon questions on how the desert environment has shaped the development of both Lima and Los Angeles, and its implications for future development. Ms. Lima worked on her UFI project with research partners Christian Stayner, an architect based in Los Angeles, and Jorge Villacorta, a Peruvian art curator based in Lima.

Together, the three researchers are amassing an archive of interviews with a variety of practitioners, scholars, and artists about the city and surrounding arid regions, both in California and Peru. The methodology for this documentary project is one in which an interview format is adopted as a platform for generating questions about environmental considerations rather than proving hypotheses or establishing specific architectural agendas.

Salon for UFI Fellow Alexia Leon, 3/3/09. From left Alexia Leon, Christian Stayner, and Russ Leland. MAK Center Director Kimberli Meyer in background

Alexia Leon Public Presentation, 4/7/09. UFI Fellow Alexia Leon and co-presenter Christian Stayner

Salon for UFI Fellow Alexia Leon, 3/3/09. From left: Georgina Huljich; Frank Escher; Kimberli Meyer; and Marcelo Spina