Alumni Spotlight: Gabriela Mercado

Gabriela Mercado’s interest in learning more about sustainable buildings was piqued when she was working on the architectural design of a LEED-certified project in Puebla, Mexico. While she had integrated sustainability practices into her work as an architect before then, “the project made me aware that I didn’t know as much as I wanted to.”

She began researching potential educational options, initially enrolling in short-term and online courses.

“But as I started exploring what was available I realized that I wanted a program that went deeper,” she says. “Many programs just touched on the surface of sustainability in the building industry, and I realized that I needed to do a master’s degree to do this topic justice. UBC’s program was very unique.”

So although Gabriela originally had no intent of moving internationally to pursue a master’s degree, this is exactly what she did, enrolling in UBC’s Master of Engineering Leadership (MEL) in High Performance Buildings in January 2022.

Deepening her knowledge of sustainable building practices

The MEL in High Performance Buildings brings together early-to-mid-career architects and engineers who learn both from each other and from leading experts in green building design, energy modelling and regenerative development.

“As a practising architect, I’ve worked with engineers on project teams, but learning alongside them was a different and transformative experience,” says Gabriela. “Engineers and architects are trained to solve problems using different approaches. Taking classes and working on projects with people with an engineering background was a great learning experience.”

Gabriela also notes that the international student cohort also generated many opportunities for growing her knowledge. “It was eye-opening to learn about practices in Iran, Germany, Singapore, and Dubai,” she says. “Your classmates have a lot of experience in the field, which means you are learning from your peers as well as from your instructors.”

Students in the High Performance Building program benefit from UBC’s internationally recognized commitment to sustainability, in one of the cities with more ambitious sustainable targets exemplified in a campus that operates as a living lab. “Instead of reading about a building or having a professor explain it to you, we were able to go to buildings on campus and access real-time energy use to analyze energy performance,” says Gabriela.

About 40 percent of the MEL courses are taught through UBC Sauder’s Robert H. Lee Graduate School of Business, covering topics in leadership, strategy, innovation and sustainability. Gabriela particularly enjoyed a course on data analytics and interpretation, which equipped her with new tools for analyzing and presenting data to decision-makers.

Changing careers

Shortly after completing the program, Gabriela was hired by BC Housing as a sustainability and resilience advisor.

“My work involves bringing and evaluating new strategies to BC Housing so we can make our buildings more efficient and climate resilient both today and into the future,” she says. “The housing we are building needs to be functional and safe 60 years from now, when we will likely have more severe storms, more severe heat waves and more severe weather events. I look at strategies, innovations and new solutions that we could potentially integrate into our design guidelines. We then test our data assumptions or do pilot projects to decide whether these innovations should be implemented in various projects.”

The innovations can encompass everything from methodology (like modular construction), energy systems (such as solar photovoltaic panels coupled with battery storage) or water management (innovative water systems that result in significantly lower water use).

Gabriela evaluates potential solutions in terms of their relevancy to British Columbia, environmental impact, cost and other factors.

She finds her work very fulfilling. “Ultimately, I find it rewarding to be able to play a role in delivering not just housing, but quality housing that will last. There is so much to do to build a sustainable future and I am enthusiastic and honoured to be part of this.”