Sustainability Architect Carla Gautier Castro Named Commencement Speaker

Wentworth Institute of Technology is honored to announce its 2024 Spring Commencement keynote speaker, architect and social advocate Carla Gautier Castro. 

A third-generation Puerto Rican and graduate of Wentworth with a passion for sustainable design, Gautier Castro’s career path has been shaped by a deep commitment to community, environmental responsibility, and building resilience in the face of adversity. 

Gautier Castro earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Architecture from Wentworth, where she focused on sustainable design. 

Her passion to create ecologically intelligent designs led her to Berlin, Germany and later to Benin in West Africa, where she learned alternative forms of construction and sustainable living practices. 

Desiring that architecture serve people, she returned to her roots in Puerto Rico in the summer of 2017. Three months later, Hurricane María hit the island. In an effort to help, Gautier Castro worked with FEMA as a construction inspector. Once there, she found a bureaucratic process that delayed progress and people were not getting the help they needed. 

Together, she and her father worked countless hours to design a house viable for small families that would be strong enough to withstand inclement weather and atmospheric conditions. With climate change in mind, Gautier Castro’s vision is to rebuild houses, schools, and multi-use facilities in Puerto Rico that are sustainable and resilient to severe climate conditions. 

Image

She founded Konti Design Built Studio, a family operated, environmentally conscientious business, to inspire and teach people to move forward after Hurricane María with access to proper, sustainable construction. Her innovative designs use recycled shipping containers as opposed to new, mined materials, and she is committed to helping the island thrive by using local labor and local materials.  

Gautier Castro believes a harmonic synergy between humans and nature is the only path forward, and she has dedicated her life toward building safe housing. 

In 2020, CNN featured Carla and Konti Design Built Studio as Champions for Change. Based in San Juan, Konti is building affordable hurricane and earthquake-resilient homes equipped with solar panel systems, rainwater collection tanks, and bio garden septic tank systems. Gautier Castro seeks not only solutions for communities in Puerto Rico, but global solutions that will benefit families worldwide. 

Wentworth’s Spring Commencement ceremony will take place on its Boston campus Saturday, April 20. Find updates at wit.edu/commencement.