Architecture Competition Cambodia Remote Hideout Huts Clients Favourite winners – 129st.co

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to the Clients Favourite winners of our “Cambodia Remote Hideout Huts” competition – Kevin Sánchez, Andrea Márquez, Mairim Aguilar and Jesús Curiel from Venezuela!

Tbanh Huts Team from Venezuela

All four of us have been friends since the start of architecture school in 2011 at Universidad de Los Andes, in Merida, Venezuela. We’ve been working together along the years both in academic and professional projects. After graduating, we all started working as freelancers, many times still as a group even though now we’re living in different countries.

In 2019, two of us (Kevin and Andrea) created 129st.co in Merida, Venezuela as a more professional approach to what we had been doing, which has allowed us to work with clients from all around the world. It’s usually just the two of us working on every aspect of the projects we’re hired for, but whenever we need help with bigger projects, we know we can count on our colleagues.

Jesus and Mairim moved to Madrid last year, and freelancing has also allowed them to work with important clients around the world, for example, with Hard Rock Hotels.

Brief information about the projects that you/your company have been involved with. For instance, what scale have you focused on/preferred, any significant projects where the company/ individuals have been involved?

Having lived and studied in Venezuela for practically our whole lives has allowed us to work on tropical climate locations, letting us really understand the way materials and climate affect the environment we live in. But at the same time, being freelancers and having clients from all five continents, we have seen architecture beyond what you see in magazines or blogs, which has also given us experience in diverse design of all sorts of small/medium projects.



We mainly focus on small/medium scale residential architecture, where we can contribute to better living conditions. We also really enjoy working on architectural visualization and interior design, which have been some of our main client sources.

What does architecture mean to you and what is the role of an architect in your society? 


Architecture is the way we live. We know it is one of society's main pillars, it is – or should – be the most holistic response to human needs. From our point of view, as designers, we believe architecture has the responsibility to provide development of societies through well thought-out designs, quality living, and understanding that it isn’t just a refuge. We understand it is one of the most tangible ways a society expresses itself, and the way we live.

Why do you participate in architecture competitions? 


This is the first time we participate in an international architecture competition. We got really attracted to this particular project, because we saw it as an opportunity to work in a project that required the kind of knowledge we’ve acquired during our career as architects, which we usually don’t get a chance to use working as freelancers. Also, we saw it as a way to show our work to a bigger audience and make our little contribution to the world.

What advice would you give to individuals who struggle to decide whether it would be beneficial for them to participate in architecture competitions?

We say, just go for it. It is an opportunity to find a project you feel comfortable working with – find the one that fits your knowledge best and put it into practice.