Marcus Sarao-Castro

Marcus Sarao-Castro is an undergraduate student double majoring in Architecture and History. Of Afro-Puerto Rican descent, he aspires to decolonize Spanish colonial architecture and urban planning throughout Latin America by designing buildings that draw from Indigenous and African traditions. By designing buildings that incorporate Afro-Indigenous structures, aesthetics, and materials, Marcus hopes to use architecture as a medium to provide generational healing, cultural continuity, and spiritual connection. 

In addition to fostering community, he hopes to combat environmental racism by ensuring that his buildings reflect the epistemologies and relationships that Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples have with their local environments. Marcus is additionally interested in studying how Islamic infrastructure and architectural techniques were transferred to Latin America via Iberian colonization.