biggest and most prominent Mexican architecture studios are located in the capital, Mexico City, Cota Paredes is one of many based in its second-most populous metropolis, Guadalajara.

Emerging studios there are working particularly in the residential sector, creating private houses for clients willing to take a chance on young local firms.

"The good thing about working in Guadalajara is that young talented, hardworking people can get extraordinary opportunities very early in their careers," said Luis Enrique Flores and Armida Fernández, who established their office Estudio ALA in the city.

Estudio ALA, which completed this terracotta chapel at a tequila factory, is also based in the city

Guadalajara is the capital city of the western state of Jalisco, and has a rich history of the arts. It is considered the birthplace of traditionalmariachi music, and hosts a number of large-scale cultural events such as the Guadalajara International Film Festival and the Guadalajara International Book Fair.

Like Mexico City, the Guadalajara region also has a strong architectural heritage, spawning Barragán, as well as architects Ignacio Díaz Morales, Rafael Urzua and Pedro Castellanos.

In the mid-20th century, this group formed what they called the Escuela Tapatía de Arquitectura, a school that aimed to create a regionalist architecture with a strong sense of local identity.

"Guadalajara has been a nest of architects since the beginning of the last century," said Cota Paredes.

Barragán went on to win the 1980 Pritzker Prize, while Diaz Morales set up the architecture school at the University of Guadalajara – from which many of the city's promising young architects have graduated.

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