Cooperación Comunitaria

Cooperación Comunitaria works with rural Mexican communities to rebuild homes and communal facilities after natural disasters. Inviting community participation throughout the design process and integrating local ancestral knowledge with technical expertise, Cooperación Comunitaria’s practice is oriented toward “recognizing inhabitants as rights-holders and prioritizing self-management of territory, housing, livelihoods, and natural common goods,” in the firm’s own words. Founded in 2012 by Isadora Hastings García and Gerson Huerta García, the practice today includes Silvia Elis Martínez Hernández, José Jesús Álvarez Gutiérrez, and Lizet Zaldivar López.

Projects include:

Comprehensive Social Reconstruction of Communities of Guerrero, an ongoing project that focuses on reducing the environmental and economic vulnerability of Indigenous communities in the Montaña region of Guerrero

Comprehensive and Social Reconstruction of the Habitat in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a community-based habitat reconstruction project following a major earthquake in 2017, which provided housing better adapted to earthquakes and the regional climate to 300 families in the region

Constructive Self-management for Food Sovereignty in the Tseltal Communities of Chilón, Chiapas, an ongoing collaboration with the indigenous Tseltal group J’canan J’nantic Lum Qu’inal to establish food sovereignty, including the development of cooperative stores and two Agroecological Training Centers

Cooperación Comunitaria received the AMER Award for Best Rural Development Experience in Mexico from the Mexican Association of Rural Studies, the Transformative Cities’ People’s Choice Award in 2019, and the Green Star Awards from UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Green Cross International, and the United Nations Environment Programme in 2017. 

Isadora Hastings García received a master’s in architecture from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. She was a co-curator of the Mexican Pavilion at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale.

Gerson Huerta García received training as a civil engineer. Before co-founding Cooperación Comunitaria, he founded Grupo SAI in 1995, a firm specializing in structural engineering.

Silvia Elis Martínez Hernández holds a bachelor’s degree in Latin American studies from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and a master’s in social environmental projects from the University of the Environment. 

José Jesús Álvarez Gutiérrez is a supervising architect at Cooperación Comunitaria, where he coordinates various projects on the ground.

Lizet Zaldivar López studied architecture at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She is responsible for coordinating participatory design processes and developing architectural projects at Cooperación Comunitaria.