Juan Villalón Hernando is an architect, urban and landscape designer, and researcher. His work focuses on interdisciplinary design and research processes that link infrastructure adaptation, climate change and biodiversity challenges, and rural and urban ecologies. He holds a Master of Architecture in Urban Design with Distinction from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, a Bachelor in Architecture with High Honors from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, and a specialization diploma in Ecosystemic services, urban forests, and natural capital from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.
At Harvard, he was a Fulbright Scholar, a Real Colegio Complutense Fellow, and received the Dean Merit Scholarship. He co-leaded the Climate Leaders Program for Professional Students and worked as a research and teaching assistant for the Landscape and Urban Design Departments and as a studio instructor for the GSD Design Discovery Program. In 2022, Kawthar Marafi and he won the Penny White Project Fund Award for their research project Aceituna/Zaytoon Landscapes: Olive Tree Cultivation Atlas across the Trans Gibraltar Region. Juan has written and published articles in Harvard ReVista Magazine, the International Forum of Urban Interventions Publication, Placemaking Latinoamerica 2017 Book, A11 Magazine, Archiprix International 2019 book, and Arkinka magazine of Architecture Design and Construction.
Juan has worked in territorial planning and urban design with the French Development Agency, Transitec and IDOM in Latin America and Saudi Arabia. He has also led public space and landscape design projects with the Municipality of Lima, including landscape heritage regeneration and sustainable mobility development. In 2017, he was part of the winning teams in the design competition for the Regeneration of the Satipo River Project and the Machu Picchu Interpretation Center. Juan also volunteered for four years in Construye Identidad and Brigadas en Frontera, initiatives where he collaborated with the construction of sustainable educational and sanitary infrastructure in the Peruvian Amazon Region.