AD&Vision Thirteenth Edition - Spring | Summer 2021

13TH EDITION

AD&VISION

2021 SPRING / SUMMER 2017

AD&V LAUNCHES AN EDUCATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR EARTH DAY

IN THIS ISSUE • Our Earth Day Strawless Initiative.

• The firm’s commitment to continue promoting professional women.

• AD&V is recognized among the top firms of 2021.

• Our new normal office culture activities.

FEATURED STORY

AD&V LAUNCHES AN EDUCATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR EARTH DAY For this year’s Earth Day, we called on local restaurants to join the initiative of ‘¡Sin Sorbeto Por Favor!’ (No Plastic Straws, Please!).

According to studies, approximately 500 million straws are used daily in the United States. Unfortunately, these straws end up in oceans or landfills. Plastic straws are not biodegradable and very difficult to recycle. These are often consumed by marine animals, causing them serious harm and putting their lives in danger. If we don’t create awareness around this issue, experts estimate that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.

The focus of the ‘No Plastic Straws, Please!’ campaign was to educate people and local businesses about the great damage that straws cause the environment. We carried out this message by placing promotional materials such as table tents with interactive QR Codes at affiliated businesses where consumers could find information about the campaign. We also promoted the campaign through our social media networks (@advfirm) so that the public could follow the initiative, learn and create awareness.

Some of the businesses in our neighborhood that have joined this initiative are the Sheraton Hotel, the Puerto Rico Convention District Authority (PRCDA), T-Mobile District, Casino Metro, Metropol, Barullo Taberna Española, Lupe Reyes, and Texas de Brazil.

“As a company, we are committed to taking action to improve our community and our planet. This campaign allows us to create awareness and work for a common good,” added Cristina Villalón, Co-Founder and Managing Principal of AD&V. We all need to do our part to stop the use of plastic straws and commit to taking this important step for the future of our ecosystem.

Even after Earth Day 2021, we invite everyone to join the ‘No Plastic Straws, Please!’ initiative.

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AD&V ANNOUNCES NEW

WOMEN TEAM MEMBERS

We marked our firm’s 20th anniversary during Women’s Month, and announced the appointment of architect Natasha Yordán, CAAPPR, LEED Green Associate, NCARB, as an associate partner of the firm.

Yordán, a graduate of the School of Architecture of the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico in Ponce, joined the firm six years ago and oversees the design team at AD&V. In addition to the integration of Yordán, the firm hired new members: Sofía Zaragoza as Project Manager, Illian Pérez as Architecture Associate, and Tanya Aguayo as support in customer relations.

“At our firm, 75% of leadership positions are held by women and over 85% percent of our team is composed by women. We are committed to continue providing an environment that supports and promotes women in our industry.” added Cristina Villalón, CoFounder and Managing Principal at AD&V. We have also been recognized for establishing important alliances with the United Nations as they reiterate their commitment to the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) to promote gender equality, as well as our commitment to the initiative of corporate social responsibility of the United Nations Global Compact and its principles in the areas of human rights, labor standards, the Natasha Yordán environment, and the fight against corruption.

Architect & Design Team Leader The new additions to our AD&V team showcase our effort and commitment to continue hiring and promoting professional women for positions in the architecture and design industry.

Sofía Zaragoza

Senior Project Manager

Tanya Aguayo

Executive & Administrative Assistant

Ilian Pérez

Architectural Associate

Welcome to the Team!

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UNDER CONSTRUCTION

CONDADO RESIDENCE

CONDADO RESIDENCE

CAGUAS MIX-USE & ELDERLY HOUSING

CAGUAS MIX-USE & ELDERLY HOUSING

NEW HAMPSHIRE CARRIAGE HOUSE

RESIDENCE INN BY MARRIOTT

LUCHETTI RESIDENCE

LUCHETTI RESIDENCE

Condado, Puer to Rico

Caguas, Puer to Rico

New Hampshire, United States

Condado, Puer to Rico 4

Condado, Puer to Rico

Caguas, Puer to Rico

Isla Verde, Puer to Rico

Condado, Puer to Rico

ON THE DRAWING BOARD

AIRPORT SERVICE FACILITIES

AIRPORT SERVICE FACILITIES

San Juan, Puer to Rico

San Juan, Puer to Rico

SAN JUAN HOUSING PROJECT

CONDADO LUXURY DEVELOPMENT

San Juan, Puer to Rico

DORADO URBAN REDEVELOPMENT

Condado, Puer to Rico

MOUNTAIN SPA RETREAT

Dorado, Puer to Rico

Guaynabo, Puer to Rico

SANTURCE REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT

WELLNESS COMMUNITY

Santurce, Puer to Rico

Cabo Rojo, Puer to Rico

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT In recent months, AD&V has been featured in numerous publications including:

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AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS AD&V TEAM MEMBER RECEIVES

BEST THESIS PRESENTATION AWARD We’re proud to announce that AD&V’s Juan Carlos Ramos was recognized by the AIA Puerto Rico with the Architect Benjamín Vargas distinction for his thesis entitled “The New District: Regeneration, reinvention and integration of shopping centers”!

This distinction was given for the first time to selected UPR Architecture School graduate students in recognition for their academic excellence.

AD&V IS RECOGNIZED AMONG THE TOP

FIRMS OF 2021

We’re excited to announce that AD&V was recognized among the Top 225 International Design Firms for 2021

by Engineering News-Record and among the Top 300 Architecture firms in the US for 2021 by Architectural Record.

Architectural Record is the #1 source for news and information about architecture and design while Engineering News-Record provides the engineering and construction news, analysis, commentary, and data that construction industry professionals need to do their jobs more effectively.

Both publications ranked firms according to revenue for design services performed in 2020.

We feel honored to have been recognized as the only Puerto Rican architecture & interior design firm to represent our Island at a national & international level. We continue to work hard to not only contribute to the economic growth of our Island but put our talent and professionalism on the map!

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SPECIAL APPEARANCES

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP,

FUNDING, RESILIENCE & SUSTAINABILITY

During the spring and summer season, our AD&V founders and our Business Development and Marketing Director were invited to speak about funding, resilience, sustainable development and topics relating to thought leadership.

AD&V Co-Founder & CEO, Ricardo Álvarez-Díaz discussed the contributions that the Puerto Rico Builders Association (PRBA) has made to the economic development of Puerto Rico in the past decades, and spoke about construction programs and the CDBG-DR Funds in a PRBA webcast.

Ricardo was also an invited guest speaker for two panel discussions at the University of Miami Coastal Resilience Symposium in which he talked about safe housing and community resilience strategies through the Keep Safe program and about the Resilient Framework Plan for the Autonomous Municipality of Toa Baja.

AD&V Co-Founder and Managing Principal, Cristina Villalón was one of the panelists at the Women On Top virtual seminar where she spoke about her triumphs, challenges, failures, learnings and the valuable advice she has to offer on the path of entrepreneurship and business development. Cristina was also featured in an episode of the Successful Blunders Podcast, where she shared her experience in the world of interior design and explained about why it’s important to specify certain clauses in business contracts.

Our Business Development and Marketing Director, Carla Joan González, was invited to speak at the SDG Ambition webinar in which she spoke about AD&V’s experience during the SDG Ambition Accelerator program, and where she also shared AD&V’s efforts on defining a living wage for Puerto Rico.

AD&V BIRTHDAYS! LUIS VÁZQUEZ March 8

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NIRMALIZ RODRÍGUEZ March 21 JOCELYN TORRES April 1 TANYA AGUAYO May 4

WILFREDO CARLO May 22 RICARDO ÁLVAREZ DÍAZ July 26 NEYDIN ALVARADO August 10

GINA TORMOS August 13 ARIELA RIVERA August 15 MARIANA ALVELO August 26

FROM THE ACADEMY 2021 SUMMER

INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

This year our internship program was back! In order to provide college students with the opportunity to learn and help shape the architecture and design industry, we had 3 amazing interns during the summer.

Meet our Interns (from left to right): • José, is headed into his 5th year as an Iowa State University student pursuing a degree in Architecture.

• Vanessa, a fourth year Architecture student at the University of Miami.

• Mia, is currently in her second year of her Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing at the University of Florida.

AD&V CARES LENDING A HELPING

HAND

Due to the disastrous earthquake that left our Haitian neighbors in great need, the AD&V Team donated important goods and supplies to send over to the victims.

Our hearts and prayers go out to all Haitians who are going through this difficult time.

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OFFICE CULTURE HONORING ALL WOMEN This National Women’s Equality Day we honored the incredible women at AD&V! We all depend on hardworking women — moms, partners, sisters, and friends. We’re grateful for everything they do!

EARTH DAY CELEBRATION Besides our ‘¡Sin Sorbeto Por Favor!’ educational campaign, to celebrate Earth Day internally with our team, we had a special team meeting where we shared the ways our team members positively contribute to Earth’s environment and learned new things we can easily adopt to do our part in leaving the world better than what we found it. We also provided the AD&V Team with reusable straws and utensils in order to help reduce plastic waste.

SUPERHERO MOMS! For Mother’s Day we wanted to do something special for the super AD&V moms. That’s why we gave them their own superhero shirt. Introducing: • Nirmaliz -The Fantastic Purchaser • Gina - The Inquisitive Laser Vision • Tanya - The Super Groovy Doer • Jocelyn - The Amiplin Master • Cristina - The Juggling Queen 10

CELEBRATING AD&V GRADUATES! This year, we celebrated 3 AD&V Team member graduations!

AD&V’s interior designer, Mariana Alvelo, graduated with a Master of Arts in Design Management from The Savannah College of Art and Design. While Architectural Associates, Juan Carlos Ramos and Illian Pérez, received their Masters Degree in Architecture from the University of Puerto Rico School of Architecture. Congrats team! You all ROCK!

FIRST IN PERSON TEAM MEETING Since the pandemic began, we had to move our Monday Team breakfast meetings to a virtual format. Now, following health and safety guidelines, we were finally able to do the Monday Team breakfast meetings again once a month at our new office headquarters.

FATHER’S DAY To celebrate the awesome AD&V Dads this year, we wanted to give them something they could share with their families.

We gave them a unique movie night kit filled with their favorite movie snacks and candy. We thank them for all that they do!

SUMMER HAPPY HOUR We had a great Happy Hour at our office terrace during the Summer. The AD&V Team enjoyed delicious pizza and drinks while playing a fun trivia game about each team member.

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SAN JUAN

MIAMI

200 Convention Blvd.

9000 NW 15th St., Unit 5,

Suite 201 San Juan, Puer to Rico 00907

Doral, FL 33172 t: 786. 703 5737

t: 787. 754 1381 info@advfirm.com www.alvarezdiazvillalon.com

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