Why does the same technology succeed in one project and fail in another?
I am an architect and civil engineer researching how digital technologies transform the way we design, build and manage the built environment, and why their outcomes depend so much on context. My work sits at the intersection of architecture, engineering and construction management, and moves between two scales: understanding how technologies are adopted in real projects, and bringing those insights into the way we teach construction.
My current focus is Construction 5.0, a human-centric, sustainable, and resilient vision of digital transformation, and the alignment between technology and project context in Latin America.
Research topics
Technology–context alignment and Industry/Construction 5.0
I study technology adoption as a problem of alignment between digital tools and the contextual conditions of each project, through the lens of Industry and Construction 5.0.
Construction 5.0
Technology adoption
Project studies
Latin America
Digital transformation and sustainability in the built environment
BIM, Construction 4.0/5.0, and their connection to sustainability in buildings and linear infrastructure, with a focus on the realities of developing countries.
BIM
Construction 4.0
Infrastructure 4.0
Sustainability
Technology-enhanced construction education (architecture/civil eng.)
Immersive media, mobile apps and online learning to rethink how construction is taught in architecture and engineering programs, using real buildings as learning laboratories.
Research-creation
Educational technology
MOOCs
Curriculum design
Research projects
Apoyo Impacto País Uniandes
Universidad de los Andes
PhD in Engineering (2024–present)
This research explores why the same technologies produce different outcomes in different construction projects. Rather than treating adoption as a generic process, it frames it as a question of alignment between technology and project context. The study combines a scoping and critical literature review, an expert focus group and an exploratory multiple case study to characterize the Industry 5.0 practices associated with that alignment.
Results and contributions
Conference:
Context Domains in Industry 5.0 Adoption in Construction
Context Domains in Industry 5.0 Adoption in ConstructionConference:
Mapping Construction 4.0 and Sustainability for Innovation in the Construction Industry of Developing Countries
Mapping Construction 4.0 and Sustainability for Innovation in the Construction Industry of Developing CountriesCandidacy Presentation:
Industry 5.0 Practices in Construction Projects: Technology-Context Alignment
PhD CandidatePoster:
Technological Innovation in Construction of Developing Countries: Towards Sustainable Industrial Development
Technological Innovation in Construction of Developing Countries: Towards Sustainable Industrial DevelopmentInterdisciplinary research projects grant, Research Vice-Presidency PUJ
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
Infrastructure 4.0: Trends and developments in digitalization and sustainability in linear projects
The research project seeks to create and clarify the outlook of those specific topics that are being studied and developed related to digitalization and sustainability in linear infrastructure projects, and to analyze those specific trends that are leading research in these two major topics. The project seeks to contribute to the state of the art and knowledge of an emerging field in construction, which is leading research, training and innovation in the field of architecture, engineering and construction.
Results and contributions
Article:
Digitalization and Sustainability in Linear Projects Trends: A Bibliometric Analysis
MOOC:
Digitalización en infraestructura de transporte
Article:
Exploring the influence of linear infrastructure projects 4.0 technologies to promote sustainable development in smart cities
Article:
Prioritizing sustainability strategies for linear infrastructure 4.0 projects in developing countries: an expert assessment
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
Identify the challenges and opportunities of Construction 4.0 in complex realities and Latin American social contexts.
Results and contributions
Professional Certificate:
Fundamentos de la Construcción 4.0
MOOC: Evolución tecnológica en la industria de la Construcción, Arquitectura e Ingeniería (AECO)
MOOC: Metodologías disruptivas aplicadas a la industria de la Construcción, Arquitectura e Ingeniería (AECO)
Professional Certificate:
Transformación digital en proyectos constructivos 4.0
MOOC: Automatización en edificaciones
MOOC: Digitalización en infraestructura de transporte
Research-creation projects grant, Research Vice-Presidency PUJ
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
Construction processes and, in general, subjects related to construction techniques, continue to be taught in the same way after several years without taking advantage of new technologies already available. The research - creation process addresses the problem from the conception of the university campus as a constantly built learning laboratory, through the realization of educational content supported by innovative means of transmission and immersion, the technological development of a tool that houses this material and the bi-directional interaction of users with the platform. The application product of this process will understand and present the university campus as a space in constant physical transformation capable of creating creative learning material through agile formats designed for new generations and related to constructive issues linked to the physical evolution of the university.
The CAMPUS app offers a gallery of audiovisual and interactive media that brings the education community closer to the construction processes knowledge like never before. The content will be carried out in such a way that the buildings of the University Campus in constant transformation will be used as regular input and source of educational material. The University Campus becomes a learning laboratory in constant construction. In addition, the app becomes the link of interaction between the continuous transformation and the University community.
The mobile application can be used primarily in educational sector, where you want to show the construction processes of any building through new technologies. The app is capable of being used by a community that wants to investigate how a building is constructed from the foundation to the roof step by step, but even including historical facts about the building or key aspects to highlight. Campus allows learning constructive themes in an innovative and technological way, bringing the user closer to digestible knowledge and adapted to new generations.
Results and contributions
Mobile App:
Colfuturo
Politecnico di Torino
Recent technological developments in mechanical investigation techniques and non-destructive monitoring of masonry buildings provide today an amount of information, unthinkable up until yesterday. Likewise the techniques of automated laser survey allow a rapid and precise definition of the geometry of a building, with a level of detail never previously reached. On the other hand, the applications to the modeling of complex masonry historical structures are not as widespread, and constitute an interesting subject of research. Despite the fact that numerical modeling techniques based on the finite element method have progressed considerably, and the computing power available is constantly growing. The difficulties that are encountered are manifold, and reside especially on the absence of well consolidated procedures for the definition of the model and for the management of uncertainties.
The Asinelli Tower in Bologna is taken as a case study to define a general methodology for the analysis of historical masonry towers. Using the finite element code DIANA (TNO Diana, Netherlands) the difficulties that are typically encountered in building models of increasing complexity are addressed, proposing a general procedure.
The study of the tower, although not directed to the formulation of an explicit judgment on the structural stability, has led to the formulation of an anisotropic cracked masonry model, capable of representing the dynamic behavior of the tower with greater efficiency compared to what is available in the scientific literature.
Results and Contributions
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
Although current structural design philosophy privileges the notion of structural regularity, contemporary architecture includes building irregularities. Often, conventional structural design is forced on nonconventional structures in this type of building, forcing a round peg in a square hole. This incongruence calls for a thorough study of irregular buildings. The present article uses a plan and vertically irregular building to compare a conventional and a nonconventional structural system, allowing for an analysis of the effect of structural configuration on seismic response and direct building costs. In this study, the NSR-10 building code is applied (Colombian Code of Seismic Design). Nonlinear static pushover analyses and nonlinear time-history analyses are performed to determine and ultimately compare each system's real capacity. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of direct building costs (in unitary terms) is done for both structural systems. The substantial impact of structural system type on both cost and seismic behavior is demonstrated, providing sufficient evidence to question the paradigm of conventional systems as both more cost effective and more seismically sound.
Results and Contributions
Thesis:
Comparación sismo resistente y económica entre una estructura convencional y una no convencional en un mismo edificio irregular
Comparación sismo resistente y económica entre una estructura convencional y una no convencional en un mismo edificio irregularArticle:
Seismic and Direct Costs Comparison of Conventional and Nonconventional Structural Systems Used for an Irregular Building
Seismic and Direct Costs Comparison of Conventional and Nonconventional Structural Systems Used for an Irregular BuildingGRIMET - Materials, structures and technology research lab
I am currently a member of GRIMET - Materials, structures and technology research group from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia.
Research social networks and IDs
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