ANA MARIA DURAN CALISTO is an Ecuadorian architect (UPenn, MArch 1, 2000) writer and researcher. She is co-principal of Estudio A0, a design firm co-founded in 2002 with her partner Jaskran Singh Kalirai in Quito. Estudio A0 is an open design platform that seeks to respond to the specific conditions of each project, paying particular attention to social and environmental issues. Ana Maria’s research endeavors focus on three subject matters: the urbanization process in remote areas and fragile ecosystems like the Amazon Basin and the Galapagos Islands, the impact of the infrastructural integration of South America, and the forces shaping contemporary Latin American design practices. Ana María teaches architecture studios at the School of Architecture, Design and Arts of Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. She has taught in other academic institutions, including the Harvard Graduate School of Design and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. In 2005 she conceptualized and directed the XV Quito Pan-American Architecture Biennale: Visible Cities. In 2008 she redesigned the pedagogical program for Ciparq, the design school of Universidad Internacional, as Dean. She co-edited the book “Beyond Petropolis: Designing a Practical Utopia in South America” with Michael Sorkin and Matthias Altwicker (2007-2010). She is currently a Loeb Fellow at the GSD, where she is assembling with Felipe Correa an open research network to rethink the regional infrastructures for South America.
