Omayra Rivera Crespo

Miembro, Colegio de Arquitectos y Arquitectos Paisajistas de Puerto Rico (CAAPPR) and American Institute of Architects (AIA)

Omayra Rivera Crespo has experience as an architect, educator, and researcher in Boston, Barcelona, and Puerto Rico. She earned a PhD in Architecture from Ramon Llull University in Barcelona, a master’s degree in Architecture from Arizona State University, and a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Design from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). She is the author of the book Procesos de Participación: proyectar, construir y habitar la vivienda contemporánea (2011) and co-author of the book Vivienda de Comunidades Especiales en Puerto Rico (2023). She has served on editorial committees of architecture journals in Puerto Rico, published multiple academic articles, and participated in several international conferences. In 2012, she co-founded Taller Creando Sin Encargos to support community-led design projects, and in 2022 the group participated in the 13th International Architecture Biennial of São Paulo. She has been part of the URBE collective since 2020 and has worked as a professor, manager, and consultant for public and private institutions. She has won the Honor Award for Theory and Research from the AIA Florida and the Caribbean (2022) and the same award from AIA Puerto Rico (2025). She is currently an Associate Professor at the School of Architecture, UPR.

  • In academia:

    Associate Professor, School of Architecture, University of Puerto Rico, August – December 2013 / August 2019 – present

    • Courses: Master’s Thesis, Research Techniques, Design Laboratory, Research Seminar, and Workshop on Participatory Design and Construction

    • Director of the History and Theory Committee

    Professor, School of Architecture, Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico, November 2011 – May 2020

    • Second, third, fourth year design studios

    • Courses: Final Career Project and Collaborative Design Workshop

    Researcher and Professor, La Salle School of Architecture, Barcelona, Spain, January 2005 – May 2011

    • Course: Representation Systems and Oikodomos Workshop

    Professor, Boston Architectural College, January 2001 – May 2002

    • Courses: First and second year design

    In practice:

    Co-founder and co-director, Taller Creando Sin Encargos (tCSE), April 2012 – present

    • Collective for co-design/construction and research in Puerto Rican communities, with volunteers and students of design, architecture, and art

    Consultant, HORNE PR, September 2022 – December 2023

    • Participatory design for the Multisectoral Community Mitigation Program

    Consultant, SCF Arquitectos, April – December 2021

    • Participatory design for the Master Plan of the Municipality of Cataño

    Consultant, RossiLugo Arquitectos, October 2017 – September 2018

    • Participatory design, Santurce Park and housing for Caño Martín Peña

    Project manager and consultant, Group of the Eight Communities of Caño Martín Peña, December 2017 – February 2018

    • Design and construction: Roofs for Caño, participatory housing design

    Project manager, Department of Urban Design, Municipality of San Juan, November 2013 – June 2016

    • Community projects, citizen participation, and participatory budgeting

  • Doctorate in Architecture, La Salle School of Architecture, Ramon Llull University, 2011

    • Excellent Cum Laude

    • FI Scholarship (Researcher Training) from the Generalitat of Catalonia

    • Thesis: Procesos de participación: proyectar, construir y habitar la vivienda contemporánea

    • Director: Dr. Arq. Leandro Madrazo

    Master’s in Architecture, School of Architecture, Arizona State University, 2000

    • Thesis: Re-inhabiting “Nuestro Teatro”: Memory as a Link Between Opposites

    • Advisor: Arq. Michael Rotondi 

    Bachelor’s in Architecture (Environmental Design), School of Architecture, University of Puerto Rico, 1997

    • Cum Laude

    • Article: Develar la técnica: apoyo mutuo, planos modelos y guías en la construcción de vivienda social en Puerto Rico. Revista Entrópico, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2024

    • Book: Vivienda de comunidades especiales en Puerto Rico: participación, adaptabilidad e interseccionalidad. Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades, 2023

    • Book chapter: Co-creating: Workshop Arquitecturas Colectivas. Repository: 49 Methods and Assignments for Writing Urban Places, 2023 pp. 46-49

    • Article: Cocreación para una ecología de saberes en el Caribe: Huerto de Capetillo. Revista de Arquitectura (Chile), Vol. 28, No. 44, 2023, pp. 56-75

    • Article: Casas resilientes en Puerto Rico: resistir al desastre redefiniendo la vivienda. Revista de Arquitectura (Bogotá), Vol. 23, No.2, 2022

    • Article: Urbanismo de resistencia en Puerta de Tierra. Bitácora Urbano-Territorial, Vol. 30, pp.51-60

    • Book chapter: Design-build with Children to Revive Remnant Public Spaces and Collage and Cutouts to Engage Children in Participatory Budgeting. Placemaking with Children and Youth, 2018, pp. 314-318

    • Article: The Landscape of Community and Participatory Design in Puerto Rico. Dialectic Journal, Vol. 2, No. 1, Summer 2018

    • Book chapter: Community Participation in the Design and Construction of the Built Environment in Puerto Rico and Chile: Intertwining Community and Academia. Global Dwelling, 2017, pp.181-196

    • Article: De fachada a membrana: cuerpo, muro, transparencia y relación. Tecnología y Diseño, Vol. 7 pp.47-57

    • Article: Taller de Diseño Colaborativo y Hábitat Evolutivo: Puentes entre la academia y la comunidad. Bitácora Urbano-Territorial, Vol. 27 pp.55-62

    • Research: Develar la técnica: apoyo mutuo, planos modelos y guías en la construcción de vivienda social en Puerto Rico, Honor Award for Theory and Research from AIA Puerto Rico 2025

    • Research: Casas resilientes en Puerto Rico: resistir al desastre redefiniendo la vivienda, Theoretical and Research Honor Award, Professional 2022

    • Project: Workshops Arquitecturas Colectivas from Taller Creando Sin Encargos, 13th International Architecture Biennial of São Paulo 2022

    • Project: Exhibition Escuchando las voces, 15th Biennial of Architecture and Landscape Architecture of Puerto Rico (CAAPPR), Honorable Mention 2019

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