A gathering that seeks to explore how architecture can evolve from reducing its impact toward models capable of generating environmental, social, and urban benefits. In alliance with ECOStudioXV and in collaboration with SUMe, the forum will address the transition toward a new generation of high-performance buildings, considering bioclimatic design, the reduction of operational and embodied carbon emissions, climate resilience, renewable materials, and the integration of nature and technology.
10:30 – 10:35 h. Welcome. Presentation of the objectives of the Third Sustainability Forum.
10:35 – 11:00 h.“The New Generation of Regenerative Buildings: Biochemistry, Zero Emissions, Resilience, and Building Envelopes.”
- Xavier Valladares, ECOstudio XV.
The forum will open with a talk on architecture and sustainability, addressing bioclimatic design, emissions reduction, climate resilience, and circular materials, with a vision toward regenerative, zero-emission buildings.
11:10 – 12:00 h. “Beyond Zero Carbon: The Next Generation of Regenerative Buildings.”
- Daniel F. Hellmuth, Hellmuth + Bicknese Architects
The conference will present projects and experiences involving mass timber and CLT systems, renewable materials, structural innovation, and embodied carbon reduction, with a vision toward high-performance, carbon-positive buildings and regenerative architecture.
12:10 – 13:20 h. “Facades as Environmental Infrastructure.”
- María Silos, Sustainability Consultant and Head of Bioclimatic Analysis, Taller Híbrido.
- Juan Pablo Serrano, founder of Serrano+ WISHARC.
- Karina Schwartzman, co-founder of Tecorral Studio and SEED Collective.
- Moderated by Andrés Prera, Co-founder of ENVIRO.
The panel discussion will explore the evolution of the facade as an active system capable of responding to climate conditions, improving energy performance, and integrating nature and technology. Topics will include high-performance facades, passive design and thermal control, integrated vegetation, green infrastructure, low-impact materials, and energy-generating solutions.
He studied Architecture and Urban Planning at IBERO. After working for four years at Legorreta Arquitectos, he earned a Master’s degree in Environmental Design and Engineering from The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies at UCL in London.
Xavier has built his career as an architect and sustainability consultant, participating in more than 700 projects in Mexico and internationally. He has over 20 years of experience and, before founding ECOstudio® in London and Mexico, worked at firms such as Richard Rogers Partnership, Cullinan Studio, and ECD Research & Environment.
Xavier is a registered and qualified EDGE Expert, EDGE Auditor, SAP, SBEM, BREEAM EcoHomes, EPC, Code for Sustainable Homes (CfSH), and LEED® AP BD+C professional. His projects and environmental consulting work stand out for combining strong technical knowledge of environmental and bioclimatic design with an emphasis on aesthetic expression.
Xavier has certified more than 75 projects, advised on more than 100 fully passive buildings, and consulted on approximately half a dozen Zero Emissions projects.
He is currently Managing Partner of ECOstudio XV, a comprehensive environmental consulting firm with offices in Mexico and the United Kingdom, and a professor at IBERO as part of the Cátedra Blanca Cemex program.
Dan Hellmuth, AIA, is Principal and Co-Founder of H+B Architects, with more than 40 years of leadership in sustainable and regenerative design. He helped establish the St. Louis Regional Chapter of the USGBC, serving as its first president. Today, the organization has grown to 600 regional members.
To date, H+B has completed more than 50 LEED-certified projects and seven projects under the Living Building Challenge.
Dan served as Project Architect and Principal-in-Charge for the Tyson Living Learning Center, one of the first projects in the world to achieve full Living Building Challenge certification, developed for Washington University in St. Louis. His work also includes Berea College’s Deep Green Residence Hall, which achieved LEED Platinum and LBC Petal certification. This recognition led to his being named a Living Building Challenge Hero at the 2013 Living Futures Conference.
He is currently Principal-in-Charge of Destination Discovery, the $55 million renovation of the St. Louis Zoo, a three-acre project pursuing SITES and LEED certifications, where he led the integration of mass timber into the design of the Discovery Center. Dan also serves as designer and project manager for the LAD Outreach Center, a 6,500-square-foot mass timber educational facility currently in the bidding phase.
He lectures nationally on sustainable design, mass timber innovation, and regenerative planning.
Architect by the Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí and Master of Architecture and Sustainable Design (MArch with Honors) from the University of Nottingham. She holds LEED AP BD+C, EDGE Expert, and EarthCheck AP credentials. Her career in sustainability has led her to specialize in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) within the construction industry.
Her career began on the developer side, working in urban image and landscape design, and gradually evolved into a strong conviction: that the architecture and construction industry can approach things differently. Since 2021, first at Bioconstrucción y Energía Alternativa (BEA) and, since 2023, at Taller Híbrido, she has led bioclimatic analysis and certification processes for more than thirty projects across offices, industrial facilities, hospitality, residential, commercial, and airport developments in Mexico, Europe, and Central America.
Life Cycle Assessment is a key part of her practice, allowing her to quantify the embodied carbon of the materials that make up a building’s envelope and compare different systems before specifying them. This calculation is complemented by bioclimatic analysis, including orientation, solar radiation, shading, and ventilation, so that a façade can simultaneously address occupant comfort and the environmental footprint of its construction.
A façade is not simply a finish; it is the building’s first piece of environmental infrastructure.
Architect and full member of the National Academy of Architecture, Juan Pablo Serrano is also a member of the Association of Mexican Architects and the College of Architects of Mexico City, as well as the Mexican Council for Sustainability. He is the Founder of Serrano+ and WISHARC and has spent 25 years as a professor at the School of Architecture of Universidad Iberoamericana. He has also served as a guest professor and lecturer at universities in Mexico and abroad.
His work has been featured in exhibitions in several countries. He has received awards and recognition both in Mexico and internationally, and his projects have been published in a wide range of national and international media.
Architecture has provided him with the opportunity to contribute to the development of a better urban context through housing, residential, commercial, restaurant, hotel, showroom, exhibition stand, mixed-use, and master planning projects. Each project reflects the contemporary Mexico in which he lives.
Light, materials, and technology are carefully balanced in every space to create a seamless connection between the user and the architecture that surrounds them. His extensive knowledge of sustainability has been present in his work since the beginning of his career, as he believes sustainability is not a trend, but the only way to create better architecture.
Karina Schwartzman is an architect who graduated from Universidad Iberoamericana and holds a Master’s degree in Bioclimatic Architecture from Isthmus in Panama. With more than 15 years of professional experience, she is Co-Founder of Tecorral Studio and SEED Collective, initiatives through which she promotes a practice committed to conscious design, sustainability, and the regeneration of territories.
Her professional and academic work explores the relationship between architecture, territory, and living systems, with a particular focus on bioclimatic design, biomaterials, and regenerative strategies. Throughout her career, she has developed projects at different scales, ranging from master plans to habitable spaces and the adaptive reuse of existing buildings, seeking to integrate environmental, social, and regenerative criteria into every intervention.
Her complementary training includes disciplines such as regenerative design, biomimicry, ecovillage design, permaculture, and deep ecology, as well as systems-thinking and transformational tools including Alquimia Gaia, U-Lab, and Transformational Coaching.
She teaches at Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, where she advises graduation projects with a bioclimatic approach, as well as in the Master’s Program in Sustainable Architecture at Universidad del Medio Ambiente (UMA). Through both practice and teaching, she promotes a holistic vision of architecture aimed at creating more conscious, resilient, and regenerative habitats.
Guatemalan architect specializing in sustainable architecture and bioclimatic design. He is co-founder of ENVIRO, S.A., an architecture and consulting firm based in Guatemala City, established in 2005 together with architect Julio Alvarado. The firm focuses on integrating sustainability strategies into all of its projects, promoting contemporary architecture that is in harmony with nature and its surroundings.
Prera graduated from the School of Architecture at Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala. In 2003, he became one of the first Latin Americans to earn the LEED Accredited Professional credential. He has also obtained certifications and credentials including EDGE Expert, CASA AP, and Fitwel Ambassador. In 2006, he earned a Master’s Degree in Urban Management from the Technical University of Berlin, Germany.
He has collaborated with several international firms, including ID22 in Berlin and Karan Grover and Associates in India. He has also worked on projects in Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Panama.
In 2014, he was recognized as a LEED Fellow by the U.S. Green Building Council, the highest distinction awarded to LEED professionals for their outstanding contributions to sustainable building worldwide. At the time, he was the youngest professional to receive this recognition. He has participated as a sustainability consultant in more than 70 certified projects.
He is also a founding member and former president of the Guatemala Green Building Council, where he currently serves as Vice President.
Architect Prera has taught at several universities in Guatemala, leading workshops and lectures on sustainability and architecture. He currently teaches architectural design, biomimicry, and a summer course on urbanism in iconic cities at Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala.
His professional approach focuses on creating spaces that are not only aesthetically appealing and functional, but also promote sustainability and occupant well-being. Through biophilic design, he integrates values such as harmony, empathy, and creative collaboration into his projects.
