EnLAce: Domino Night with LiA Maestros
This year’s Enlace introduces a new and engaging format: a rotating domino game night designed to spark genuine conversations and connections in a relaxed, interactive environment. Through time-based gameplay and table rotations, participants will have the opportunity to engage with several LiA Maestros throughout the evening, creating a unique, fun, and memorable mentoring experience.
EnLAce is open to all professionals looking for career development and growth.
No dominoes experience required. We will begin the evening with a brief tutorial to make it easy and enjoyable for everyone to participate.
Luis Ayala, AIA, Luis Ayala Studio
Sofia Fonseca de Nino, AIA
Michael Gonzales, AIA, protolab
Yvette Herrera Duran, Assoc. AIA, Stantec
Daniel Ortiz, AIA, RDLR
Bayardo Selva, AIA, Cre8
Cindy Villareal, AIA, O’Connell Robertson
Generously sponsored by Perkins&Will.
Luis Ayala, AIA, Owner, Luis Ayala Studio
Luis is a Paraguayan architect that migrated to Houston in 2007. He has focused mostly on the design of education facilities for higher education institutions and K-12 schools. His expertise includes campus design, master planning, programming, and facility design.
Luis has many other skills that complement his abilities as a designer and architect. Sustainability is one of Luis’s stronger interests, and many of his projects have received design awards recognizing his innovation in green design. Luis is also an avid architectural photographer, recognized in 2017 by the Texas Society of Architects with the Award for Excellence in the Promotion of Architecture Trough the Media.
Luis fluently speaks Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and English. In 2016, Luis was distinguished by YAF Houston as a part Emerging Voices Exhibition and later the same year by AIA National as an Emerging Professional. Recently, in 2020 the AIA Houston awarded him with the Ben Brewer Award for Young Architects.
Michael Gonzales, AIA, Owner, protolab
Michael Gonzales is the owner and principal of Protolab Architects. Michael specializes in digital fabrication innovation for civic, cultural and commercial projects. He has extensive experience working with the latest fabrication technologies to develop efficient strategies for optimal construction and project delivery at all scales and complexities. Michael is also an Instructional Associate Professor at the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design where he focuses on the integration of digital design and fabrication. He actively publishes and lectures on emerging techniques in computation and design
Yvette Herrera Duran, Assoc. AIA, Stantec
Yvette Herrera Duran is an architectural designer based in Houston Texas. Her experience expands from many years in high-end residential design to now corporate commercial architecture at Page.
Born and raised in Guatemala, she moved to Miami to pursue her Undergraduate Studies in Interior Design at Florida International University. After working for a few years at a high-end residential architecture firm, where architecture and interiors were strongly interconnected, she pursued her master’s in architecture at Rice University.
From an early age she was trained in flamenco dancing, which she has continued practicing. During her years in Miami, she trained in ballroom dance and later, while getting her masters, she complimented her knowledge in the arts with theatre classes. All these various art languages influence how she experiences spaces and the development of her detailed oriented designs. She currently works in various design typologies from academic to healthcare to multifamily communities.
Daniel Ortiz, AIA, President and Managing Principal, RDLR Architects
Daniel Ortiz, AIA, was born in Ecuador and serves as President and Managing Principal of RDLR Architects, a Houston firm dedicated to community-driven design. Under his leadership, RDLR creates architecture that strengthens neighborhoods through public, nonprofit, transit, education, and housing projects. He also serves as Board President of Avenue CDC and Chairman of TIRZ 21, advancing equitable community development in Houston’s Near Northside.
Bayardo Selva, AIA, Cre8
Bayardo has turn his childhood building blocks play time into an Architectural career that expands over 20 years. His experienced has allowed him to engage a wide variety of project types and scales. He actively participates in the community through different organizations promoting architecture, protecting the environment, mentoring the youth and celebrating diversity including AIA Houston Young Architects Forum (Chair, 2014), AIA Board of Directors 2015-2018 and 2023-present (AIAH Board President, 2026), Houston Hispanic Architects and Engineers Board Member 2016-2019, Houston MOD Board Member 2019-Present, Houston Fit Running Club 2012-Present, and founding member of the AIA Houston Latinos in Architecture.
He considers himself a student of the profession and enjoys perfecting his craft!
Cindy Villareal, AIA, Houston Office Director, O’Connell Robertson
Cindy Villarreal is a seasoned leader in architectural planning and project acquisition, with a strong focus on higher education and healthcare initiatives across Texas. As the Houston Office Director, Cindy is instrumental in expanding business development efforts throughout the Houston region while driving strategic growth statewide.
With decades of experience in the design of higher education and Science and Technology facilities, Cindy has led projects ranging from allied health and nursing schools to dental institutions and advanced diagnostics and neuroscience laboratories. Her expertise lies in managing multidisciplinary design teams and fostering collaboration to ensure projects are delivered successfully.
Cindy is a passionate advocate for sustainable and resilient design. She champions human-centric environments that prioritize occupant well-being and support thriving communities. Her leadership continues to shape spaces that are not only functional and efficient but also inspiring and inclusive.
