Carlos Cubillos is Global Community Sector Leader at Gensler and brings expertise in architecture, urban design, and master planning, with a focus on mixed-use projects.

As Principal and Design Director, he has worked on projects across international locations, including Russia, Mexico, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan, Dubai, China, Malaysia, and Singapore.

His global experience includes site planning, residential projects, resorts, office, and institutional buildings. He considers himself fundamentally interested in a regenerative future – where people, project, and a city’s performance consider a circular rather than a linear metabolism in balance with natural systems, place, culture, and time. He considers design as a problem-solving process in which designers can synthesize multiple inputs and create future-ready settings, especially flexible solutions able to adapt to unpredictable needs.

He has previous experience as an architect and urban designer for the Chicago and London offices of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), and the Bogotá (Colombia) Office of Planning. In his previous independent professional practice, he worked in education and urban design projects for the city of Bogota during Mayor Enrique Peñalosa’s administration.

His work has been recognized in the Global Architecture and Design Awards program, Gensler Design Excellence Awards program, and Pan-American and Colombian Biennials of Architecture. His interest in the process of planning and building a project resulted in the publication of Detalles Maestros, recognized as best reference book in the International Latino Book Awards in 2015.

He holds a Master of Architecture and Master of City Planning/Urban Design, from the University of Pennsylvania, USA which he attended under a Fulbright Scholarship, and a Bachelor of Architecture from Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

He is a frequent juror for international design and planning competitions and a speaker at forums related to planning and urban design. He has taught at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and Universidad Javeriana, both in Bogotá, and has served as a visiting critic at the University of Pennsylvania.

Carlos Cubillos will be a member of the Holcim Awards 2023 jury for Latin America.