Antonio Nevada Martinez
Architect and Project Manager, Nosaura, Costa Rica
Education: Bachelor of Architecture, UNC Charlotte (2011)
Antonio Nevada Martinez, LEED AP, was born in Texas and served in the Air Force in pursuit of becoming a fighter pilot and soccer legend. However, it only took a few moments of being in the Storrs salon to realize his true calling, so he ditched the F-16s and put all effort into studying architecture and being a intramural soccer legend at UNC Charlotte.
Antonio worked alongside Dale Brentrup, now emeritus professor, in the School of Architecture Daylighting and Energy Performance Lab all five years of his education, which he says was key in understanding the application and importance of building performance.
“Thanks to the wonderful tutelage and mentorship of the faculty, I became aware of my ability to influence the built environment in a way that benefits the natural environment and community, both locally and globally,” Antonio says. “They also taught me the value of travel, much more than the military did.”
He applied for the AIA/SoA Travelling Fellowship twice and in 2009 went to Nigeria to study absolute efficiency in design in overpopulated Lagos. He later participated in the International Design Summer Program at Tongji University in Shanghai, China, where he and another SoA alum won an urban design competition based on their sustainable and inclusive design of the former World Expo site.
After graduating with his Bachelor of Architecture degree, Antonio worked for firms in Charlotte, designing hotels and restaurants, before Dean Ken Lambla presented yet another opportunity: to travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and renovate a hospital. A year later, Antonio was living in that hospital, overseeing its evolution and working with the country’s Ministry of Health to design a health center that would become the national standard until this day. Over six years, he led teams all over the country to build 108 health centers and renovate hundreds more, in some of the world’s most remote villages.
“Antonio grasped – without hesitation – the agency of both architecture and the architect,” Lambla says. “This understanding quickly led him to believe that both could improve the lives of human beings beyond ‘service’ to ‘partnership.’ From his early travel in life, to the AIA Charlotte Traveling Fellowship to Nigeria, it was a short step to the Democratic Republic of Congo and beyond.”
Today, Antonio lives what he calls “the architect’s dream” in a container home he designed and built in Costa Rica (pictured below). There, he continues his lifelong pursuit of sustainable practice, using his own property as a laboratory for his experiments in regenerative architecture.
Emeritus Professor Dale Brentrup, who mentored Antonio throughout his education, had this message for Antonio upon his receipt of the 2026 COAA Distinguished Alumni Award in Architecture:
“On any given day, the global community is being challenged to contextually synthesize the environmental impact of our lives and institutions; continually pushing beyond the limits. Antonio, you have accepted that challenge!”