Z4Z4/Z4A is an architecture and design studio founded in 2010, based in Madrid/Houston, led by co-principals Rafael Beneytez-Duran and Ophelia Mantz.
Z4A/Z4Z4 understands architecture at the intersection of disciplines and scales. Z4A/Z4Z4 believes in the power of architecture to respond to the present complexities of the built environment.
Across scales, Z4A responds to present ideological, theoretical, and aesthetic issues while engaging constructability. Z4Z4 develops projects in technical and material forms.
Z4A is committed to pedagogy: both are currently professors at the Hines CoAD of the University of Houston; Rafael leads the Undergraduate Architecture Studies, and Ophelia leads the Material Research Collaborative.
Z4A/Z4Z4 work has been recognized and awarded at venues such as the Architectural Review Emerging Architecture 2016, ACSA Design Faculty 2019, 2023 Texas Society of Architects, S.ARCH 2018, COAM 2016 Award, 2016 London Biennale Manila Pollination, 2016 London Transart Triennale, 2016 The Architecture and Design Film Festival New York, 3rd Istanbul Design Biennale 2016 and Spanish National Award of Public Parks and Gardens 2015. They received the 2023 Texas Society of Architects Award for the Irritable House.
Z4A is the author of Airscapes 1, Tobogan House TBH, Castilla y Leon Pavilion PCyL, Huesca Conference and Exhibitions Hall, Listening Tree, Listening Post, Cerro de las Martires Public Park, Uria Office building, Murua, among other buildings, and awarded competitions.
Their works have been published in magazines such as: DOMUS, MARK, ARQ, ACTAR, Tashen, Architectural Review, Architectural Record, AV magazine, HOUSES, ARQUINE, FUTURE, CENTER 23, PPA, AR20, Pasajes de Arquitectura, TEDx, Diseño Interior, Detail, Con-Arquitectura, BIEAU XI, ArchDaily, Europan, Experimenta, Diseñart, Dezeen, Arch20, Architizer, Bannana Design, Summa+, Archelo, Design Boom, Metalocus, Divisare, Catalogo Diseno, Afasia, Archilovers, Arkitera, Design. Mk, Archinovosti, Idea Msg, Dezain…
Awards. ACSA 2019 Faculty Design Award, Build 2019, S.ARCH Award 2018- Best Design Project. -AR Emerging Architecture 2016. Finalist. -Premio Nacional de Parques Públicos de España 2015 - Listening Tree, Spanish Biennial XI 2011. - Olympic City of Baghdad. First Prize. 2010 - Conference Hall of Huesca. First Prize 2005. - Castilla y León Pavilion. First Prize. 2008. - San Andrés Etxea Hotel. First Prize. 2005. - SEGO. First Prize. 2007. - Experimental Theater CMC en Getafe. 2007. - Centro de Gestión del Deporte en Leganés. 3rd Prize. 2009. - Europan 10. Taboadella. Awarded, 2010. - Hospedería de Turismo en Castuera. Awarded. 2009. - Hospedería de Turismo en Herrera de Duque. Awarded. 2010.
Rafael Beneytez Durán, (1972) founder of Z4A in 2010 and Director of Undergraduate Architecture as Associate Professor at the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design, University of Houston, Texas, where he teaches design Studios and Technology courses. Rafael B. Duran completed his BArch and MArch studies in architecture at the School of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (ETSAM-UPM) in 1998, and was awarded a PhD by ETSAM-UPM in 2016, awarded recognition. He has worked with architect Rafael Moneo as projects director from 1999 to 2007. He has taught at ETSAM, ESAyT, Architectural Association, and the College of Architecture at Texas Tech University, as well as lectured and guest critic at many different venues in places such as: Rice University, Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, University of Texas Austin, University of Virginia, University of Syracuse, Pratt Institute, Würzburg University, Germany, ETSAB University, El Vallés Architecture School, GSD Harvard-Career Discovery, Segovia, Münster, Porto, Delft, Limerick, Newark NJ, Lubbock TX, College Station TX, El PasoTX or Houston TX
Rafael B. Duran's practice spans the fields of architecture design, architecture technology and architecture theory. His PhD dissertation, titled Atmosphere as Form in Architecture, explores the idea of atmosphere in the context of design practices from 1818 to the present.
His work has been recognized and awarded at the Architectural Review Emerging Architecture 2016 (Finalist), S.ARCH 2018, COAM 2016 Award (Finalist), 2016 London Biennale Manila Pollination, 2016 London Transart Triennale, 2016 The Architecture and Design Film Festival New York, 3rd Istanbul Design Biennale 2016, Spanish National Award of Public Parks and Gardens 2015, XI Spanish Architecture and Urban Design Biennale 2011.
Rafael B. Duran´s works have been published in Books and Magazines such as METALOCUS, DOMUS, MARK, ARQ, ACTAR, Architectural Review, Architectural Record, CENTER 23, AV magazine, ARQUINE, FUTURE, Detail, Tashen or Pasajes de Arquitectura; as well as by Media such as Dezeen, Arch20, Architizer, Bannana Design, Archelo, Design Boom, Metalocus, Divisare, Afasia, or Archilovers.
B. Duran has been teaching at the College of Architecture of Texas Tech University (CoA-TTU), Architectural Association (AA), Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (ETSAM-UPM), and Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura (ESAyT-UCJC) as director of the Theory, Aesthetics, Composition Program
Ophélia Mantz is an architect DPLG, École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris-Belleville, ENSA-PB, France, 2002, Master in Bioclimatic Architecture and Sustainability, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, Spain, 2015. Her line of research focuses on the construction of ecological thinking in architecture and the city. Together with Rafael Beneytez, she co-directs the Z4A/Z4Z4 AAA Practice (Architects Activities Associated). She has taught at the College of Architecture, Texas Tech University, Lubbock. She is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Materials Research Collaborative at the Gerald D Hines College of Architecture and Design at the University of Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
She has participated as a guest critic at the School of Architecture at Rice University, the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Virginia School of Architecture, and the University of Cambridge.
She has recently been published in ARQ editions 108, Chile, 2021; PPA 25 Sevilla, Spain, 2021; and in the book Resilient Communities and the Peccioli Charter: Towards the possibility of an Italian Charter for Resilient Communities. Publisher: Springer, Editors: Maurizio Carta, Maria Perbellini and J. Antonio Lara-Hernandez, 2022.
Z4A/Z4Z4 work has been recognized and awarded at venues such as the Architectural Review Emerging Architecture 2016, ACSA Design Faculty 2019, 2023 Texas Society of Architects, S.ARCH 2018, COAM 2016 Award, 2016 London Biennale Manila Pollination, 2016 London Transart Triennale, 2016 The Architecture and Design Film Festival New York, 3rd Istanbul Design Biennale 2016 and Spanish National Award of Public Parks and Gardens 2015. They received the 2023 Texas Society of Architects Award for the Irritable House.
