ILFI is proudly featuring a series of member impact stories to showcase and celebrate some of the wonderful work our community has been doing. This week we introduce Esteban Martinez, co-founder and COO-sustainability director of Colombian sustainable architecture and engineering firm Green Loop.

When architect and civil engineer Esteban Martinez co-founded Green Loop in 2009, sustainability movements in Colombia were still in their infancy. The architecture firm has been at the forefront of regenerative design in the country ever since, going on to become a founding member of the Colombia Green Building Council and helping to jumpstart its LEED rating system. Today, Colombia has the third largest green building market in Latin America, and Green Loop is leading the way with over 40 engineers and 75 LEED projects certified. 

In addition to numerous regenerative design certifications, Green Loop has worked on several Living Building projects. Esteban’s familiarity with prominent sustainability rating systems allowed him to point clients already pursuing LEED and zero net energy status in the direction of Living Buildings, serving as an ambassador for the Institute. These projects have included a National Geographic eco-lodge (production was unfortunately halted due to COVID-19) and a single house unit hotel pursuing Living Building Challenge certification. However, Esteban’s favorite has been a gene bank laboratory for The International Center for Tropical Agriculture. He testifies to its breathtaking design, characterized by a yellow curved metal canopy that evokes a forest. The lab, which will be the first Platinum-level LEED certified gene bank in the world, is set to be a global hub of innovation in agricultural conservation and crop diversity. It is the first building that Green Loop has worked on to achieve certification, and Esteban remembers building up consulting work for zero energy, water, and other green building disciplines from the ground up: “It was quite a journey”.

Despite the challenges posed by advancing ambitious regenerative design in a world where the infrastructure of tax exemptions and government recognition doesn’t always keep up, Esteban is glad to be part of the global sustainability movement. His involvement with the Institute has introduced him to a network of frontrunners in biophilic design and development. He believes Green Loop’s DNA as a company is closely aligned with the Institute’s philosophy of change, and that the strong collective voice provided by this community will help push us toward progress.

Esteban Martinez is an architect and civil engineer from the Universidad de los Andes.  He received his Master’s Degree in Sustainable Design from the Boston Architectural College and complementary studies in Sustainable Urbanism from the Rotterdam School of Architecture. Esteban holds the following credentials: Living Future Accreditation (LFA), LEED Fellow (former LEED AP BD&C & O+M), LEED for C&C advisor, WELL AP, Green Rater, Edge Expert, Living Future Accredited Professional, Regenerative Practitioner and Certified Building Commissioning Professional from the Association of Energy Engineers. Martinez is Co-Founder and Director of Sustainability at Green Loop, in Bogota, Colombia – South America where he brings his vast array of experience as a sustainability consultant, energy modeler, and commissioning agent. Esteban has worked on over 350 different projects located in Colombia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Honduras, Ecuador and EEUU.

ILFI is proudly featuring a series of member impact stories to showcase and celebrate some of the wonderful work our community has been doing. This week we introduce Jessilyn Brinkerhoff, visual artist and muralist whose work has appeared on the walls of schools, city government buildings, businesses, freeways, and more.

Jessilyn Brinkerhoff has always had a close connection with nature. She grew up near the wild and scenic Rogue River Trail in remote southern Oregon, cultivating an appreciation for native species and natural landscapes, and her passion for the environment has characterized her work as an artist. Her main focus is mural design and installation, and her commissions range from large building faces for new developments to small feature walls in individual homes. Though she occasionally uses printed pieces and vinyl graphics, the majority of her murals are completely hand-painted. All her work celebrates the natural world and uses bright, vibrant depictions to explore the relationship between humans and the environment.

Jessilyn’s favorite project so far has been the three-part installation she created for the PAE Living Building engineering office in Portland. She was asked to design a set of large feature walls, each to be located on a different floor of the five-story building. The three walls would have different themes – a blue alpine scene, a green forest scene, and a red ocean scene. From there, she spent several months conducting intense field research, traveling throughout Oregon creating sketches and consulting with local biologists about keystone plant and animal species crucial to the three ecosystems. After crafting and presenting her designs, she spent about a month on site with a small team completing the murals.

Photos Credit: ZGF Architects and Jessilyn Brinkerhoff

It was while working on the Portland Living Building piece that Jessilyn was first introduced to the Institute’s work and the larger world of green building standards. She remembers becoming part of the project team’s community during the weeks spent installing the piece, and having inspiring conversations about sustainable architecture. “It fascinated me,” she says, “the way that you can design a building to last over 500 years, be very selective about materials and have this very rigorous certification process.” 

Jessilyn decided to become more involved and become a Living Future Member, using what she learned about the certifications to inform her choices about what manufacturers to use for her murals. Early on in her involvement with the Institute, she learned about the Red List, materials prevalent in the building industry that are known to pose serious health risks to humans and our ecosystem. She recalled developing respiratory issues from over 15 years of working with industrial paint materials, and now shares her knowledge of Red List materials with other painters and muralists. Although sometimes, Red List-free paint products can be difficult to find, she believes it is important for the safety of everyone involved in the process, from those manufacturing paints to the people who inhabit spaces with them. 

Another crucial way Jessilyn’s work interacts with sustainable design standards is, of course, its aesthetic impact. Public art is part of LBC’s Beauty Petal for a reason: art like Jessilyn’s inspires delight and a celebration of place and culture. The murals can also serve as educational tools, engaging people with the subject matter and implicitly communicating the values of the institution behind the building or structure. To use Jessilyn’s own words, “art can be the soul of a space”. Her murals influenced the PAE Building’s Beauty Petal and are featured in the Institute’s latest Ecotone book release, the PAE Living Building: Developer-led, Nature-Inspired. See more of her work with architects, businesses and communities at jbrinkerhoff.com.