Architect by the Universidad Autónoma de México, founding partner of Grinberg & Topelson Arquitectos with more than 200 projects completed.
From 1996 – 1999 she was the first woman President of the International Union of Architects. From 2001 – 2003 she was Director of Architecture and Conservation of Artistic Heritage INBA and from 2007 to 2012 Undersecretary of Urban Development and Spatial Planning, Mexico Federal Level.
Since 2001 she has been director of the Centro de Investigación y Documentación de la Casa, publishing the “Estado Actual de la Vivienda en México” for 18 years.
In 1996 she obtained the recognition of Woman of the Year Mexico 1996.
During her professional career, Sara Tolpenson has received various awards including the Medal of Academic Merit after 25 years of teaching at the Universidad Anáhuac; the Men and Women of the House 2018 award for her professional career; the INTERCERAMIC 2020 award for her career in architecture and the title of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters of the Ministry of France in 1998.
She is also an Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects of the Royal Institute of Architects of Canada, England, Australia, Japan, as well as the Consejo Superior de los Colegios de Arquitectos de España, among others. From 2014 to 2016 she was president of the Urban Land Institute ULI – Mexico and from 2018 to 2020 of the International Women’s Forum Mexico.