57Uno Arquitectura holds the Colombia country management of the CEELA Project —Strengthening Capacities for Energy Efficiency in Buildings in Latin America—, an initiative of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) working to make the region’s buildings efficient, healthy and low-carbon. For the studio it is much more than a commission: it confirms that the sustainable construction we have championed for more than two decades can be driven at a regional scale.
CEELA operates in Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Mexico under the motto “Learn, build and transform”. Its first phase ran from 2021 to October 2023, and the second is under way until May 2027, implemented by the Swiss consultancy EBP together with Colbun and Carbon Trust. The project trains and advises industry professionals to promote buildings around three core values: energy efficiency, adaptive comfort and net-zero carbon.
The work is organised in three pillars —integrated design in practice, capacities and knowledge, and regulatory framework— and turns into very concrete tools: the 15 CEELA principles of efficient and sustainable design, the Design Charrette methodology (15 workshops already held with builders across the region, including Comfama in Colombia), the Minergie District certification and an indicators platform for Latin America.
On the training front the numbers speak for themselves. The “Manos a la Obra” school of sustainable construction surpassed 1,500 enrolments and remains free online thanks to the CCCS; the CLESAL leadership course held its second edition in Lima in April 2026 and its network now gathers more than 80 low-carbon construction leaders working on four challenges through 2027. Add to that the Municipalities Network —44 municipalities across the region—, the Women in Sustainable Construction Network, the Zero-Emissions Universities Network and the Emisor Cero podcast.
In Colombia, CEELA supports the Ministry of Housing, City and Territory in updating Resolution 0549 on sustainable construction and in producing teaching material for social housing (VIS and VIP) projects, and works with UPME on the development of energy labelling for homes. Locally, it backs the implementation of the Sustainable Construction Manual and the Cali Builds Sustainable Seal of the Mayor’s Office of Santiago de Cali, which already recognises projects such as Tierra Linda de la Planicie and Tamarindo.
CEELA’s country management for Colombia is held by 57Uno Arquitectura as a firm: a commission that involves the whole studio, led day to day by Pablo González, founding partner, and Natalia Carrero, our sustainability architect, who supports the project as technical advisor. Today, July 29, 2026, that agenda is in full swing: Natalia moderates the panel “Designing and building for all: diversity, equity and leadership in action” at ConstruVerde 2026 —the CCCS sustainable construction congress—, bringing to the stage the conversations CEELA drives across the region.
For 57Uno, taking part in CEELA is pure coherence: we believe energy efficiency, comfort and environmental responsibility must be the starting point of every project, not an add-on. Continuing to learn, build and transform alongside international cooperation is how that conviction reaches ever more homes, municipalities and professionals across Latin America.