Carla founded KONTi Design, a social enterprise that improves natural disaster preparedness and reduces household carbon emissions by building homes with recycled shipping containers.
KONTi Design began in 2018, when Carla, a recent architecture graduate, moved back to Puerto Rico just two months before Hurricane Maria. While working as a building inspector for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Carla witnessed firsthand the devastation caused by the natural disaster, which destroyed an estimated 72,000 homes. Disillusioned by the bureaucracy surrounding the rebuilding process, she became determined to find a better way to rebuild. Drawing on innovative approaches from her architecture studies, Carla decided to design container homes made of steel, which are more resistant to natural disasters than other home types.
The social enterprise has built 10 homes since 2020. In addition to providing increased safety in natural disaster events, these houses are also more eco-friendly than their alternatives. The homes reduce carbon emissions by 60-80%, mitigating an estimated 1,608 tonnes of CO2 throughout their 60 year lifespan. Carla is also in the process of developing Elefante, Puerto Rico’s first fully self-sustainable hotel.
At the 2024 Summit in Montréal, Carla participated in the Climate Change: Threats and Solutions with Communities panel. After the Summit, she began exploring how KONTi Design can expand to other markets that she hadn’t previously considered. This includes California, a state often affected by wildfires, where her fireproof container homes are especially useful, as well as other regions that could benefit from modular design.
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