September 15th-October 15th is Hispanic Heritage Month. To celebrate, Mead & Hunt’s Employee Resource Group, which serves to support diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEI&B) initiatives, wanted to highlight just a few individuals of Hispanic heritage who have brought tremendous value to our industry and our communities.
Luis Ramiro Barragán Morfín
Luis Ramiro Barragán Morfín (1902-1988) was a Mexican architect and engineer. His work has influenced contemporary architects both visually and conceptually. Barragán’s buildings are frequently visited by international students and professors of architecture. He studied as an engineer in his hometown, while undertaking additional coursework to obtain the title of architect. Barragán won the Pritzker Prize, the highest award in architecture, in 1980, and his personal home, the Luis Barragán House and Studio, was declared a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site in 2004.
Santiago Calatrava Valls
Santiago Calatrava Valls is a Spanish architect, structural engineer, sculptor and painter, particularly known for his bridges supported by single leaning pylons, and his railway stations, stadiums, and museums, whose sculptural forms often resemble living organisms. His best-known works include the Olympic Sports Complex of Athens, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Turning Torso tower in Malmö, Sweden, the World Trade Center Transportation Hub in New York City, the Auditorio de Tenerife in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in Dallas, Texas, and his largest project, the City of Arts and Sciences and Opera House in his birthplace, Valencia. His architectural firm has offices in New York City, Doha, and Zürich.
Nicole Hernandez Hammer
Nicole Hernandez Hammer is a sea-level researcher and environmental justice activist who educates and mobilizes the Latino community to understand and address the ways in which climate change negatively impacts them. When Hernandez Hammer was four years old, she and her family moved from Guatemala to South Florida. During Hurricane Andrew, when she was 15 years old, her house – much like the homes of other Latino families near coastal shorelines – was destroyed. She wanted to learn more about the issue and went on to study biology and the natural sciences. Hernandez Hammer was the assistant director of the Florida Center for Environmental Studies at Florida Atlantic University, authoring several papers on sea level rise projections, before moving into advocacy.
