Possessing nearly 25 years of experience, Manriquez transitions into this position from the role of Lighting Design Studio Leader at the Detroit office and succeeds former Studio Leader Kevin Shultis, who retired in late 2021. Manriquez's long-time collaboration with the Cultural Practice and expertise designing and delivering technically complex projects — such as the Museum of the Bible, Edsel and Eleanor Ford House Visitor Center, and Administration Building and North Carolina Museum of History — makes him the ideal leader for this position.
SmithGroup’s Cultural Practice encompasses a network of specialty expertise, including planning, programming, and design of museums and galleries, archives and collections care, visitor and interpretive centers, children’s museums, science centers, arts education, performing arts, and cultural landscapes. For more than half a century, the firm has delivered projects for some of the world’s most iconic places and institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, the National Park Service, Cranbrook Academy, Normandy American Cemetery, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Library of Congress.
Manriquez steps into this role at a time when cultural institutions are looking to the future with new ideas of audience, interpretation, and preservation. As an experienced mentor and leader he will leverage his multi-faceted expertise to direct an integrated, multidisciplinary team of design professionals specializing in the development of holistic architecture and engineering solutions.
