HABITABLE studio
DESIGN / ARCHITECTURE / ARTinfo@habitable.studio
t. (+1) 530 507 8896



HABITABLE activities can be divided into human-scale urban research, micro-living research, and applied projects ranging from educational, micro residential, and modular furniture, all of which are linked by the common theme of “small is beyond beautiful.”

PHILOSOPHY

Economy + Ecology + Elegance

A Habitable space is
one that changes
just as our lives change.

Habitable spaces emphasize precise proportions and a sense of spatial freedom.

We believe that design contributes to ecology, health, and economic progress. In our projects, nature and architecture coexist in a symbiotic relationship.

MISSION

Habitable Studio creates
transformable environments
for living, working, and playing.

HABITABLE emphasizes flexibility and elegance across projects of multiple scales.

Our designs embody thoughtful simplicity, meticulous materiality, and adept play with light and proportion.

DESIGN SERVICES

Dynamic Co-working Spaces
Flexible Living Environments
Joyful MicroLiving

Online Design Consultations 
     ARCHITECTURE / ART / URBAN DESIGN

Our work introduces an adaptable form of architecture. To transform your space, we will act as an emissary between the building's potential and your needs and wishes.

We carefully study the natural and cultural context before developing our ideas. With our culturally rich perspective and decades of design experience, we are skilled in infusing your environment with efficiency, harmony, and joy.

“Marta’s expertise of maximizing small spaces is without compare.” Jay Marroquin, client.

FOUNDER



“Small is not only beautiful, small implies experimentation, ecology, economy, efficiency, and intimacy. Small things make a big impact!”

MARTA RODRIGUEZ

PH.D. ARCHITECT & DESIGN CONSULTANT
MARTA@HABITABLE.STUDIO


Marta Rodriguez started her career as an architect in 2004 at OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture)/Rem Koolhaas in Rotterdam. She was part of the team that won the international competition to design the New Court Rothschild Bank in London.

In 2006, while working at an Engineering company (Ingenor) in Madrid, she won the first prize in the competition for designing the new University Library of the South Campus of the UPM in Madrid. From 2007 to 2009, Marta collaborated with Lahoz Lopez Architects in designing and developing schools and hospitals, including the expansion of the Toledo National Hospital of Paraplegics and San Gil Abad Public School in Cuenca.

In 2008, she initiated her own practice in Madrid, winning several awards in public architectural competitions. These included the first prize in a competition for designing a University Research Center for the University of Valladolid (2010), the second prize for designing a research & classroom building facility for the UVA (2009), and the second prize in the architectural competition for building Affordable Housing for Young People in Cordoba (2008).

In 2013, after extensive studies at UC Berkeley and Science Po in Paris, and research in Tokyo, Marta earned her Ph.D. in Architecture (ETSAM), specializing in Japanese architecture and French Design. Interview

Subsequently, she moved to Houston in 2014, becoming an Associate Professor (tenured since 2020) at the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design. She teaches the "Intergenerational, Compact, Communal Living" architectural design studio and the "Design for Dignity and Ethics for the City" seminar. Her research primarily centers on collective housing, joyful micro-living, and inclusive human-scale urban design.

In 2020, Marta founded HABITABLE Studio, a design firm focused on creating healthy, sustainable, inclusive, and transformable environments, indoors and outdoors.

Marta's research-driven design approach has been featured in numerous design and architecture publications. In 2021, she authored a book on Charlotte Perriand and Kazuyo Sejima, a manifesto reflecting her philosophy that advocates bringing a more humanistic and ecological sensitivity into the built environment. Marta has also created an online journal, Habitable City, which promotes a more egalitarian, connected, safe, and livable city.


HABITABLE TEAM

+  
Marta Rodriguez
Founder & Principal - Architect, Professor, Author, and         Architecture & Design Consultant.

+ Michael LindemannArchitectural Designer.

+ Collaborators since 2008:
Lené Fourie, Alejandra Velazquez, Dijana Handanovic, Tuan Mai, Ghazal Saliman, Ingrid Selse, Emine Canak, Eirik Erstad, Marta de las Heras, Alejandro Sanz, Rafael Ureña, Natalia Varela.



HABITABLE studio
DESIGN / ARCHITECTURE / ARTinfo@habitable.studio
t. (+1) 530 507 8896




PUBLICATIONS



MEDIA
Instagram
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Habitable City
Promoting a more egalitarian, connected, safe, and LIVABLE city    
Subtle Revolution
SMALL is not only beautiful but sustainable and has enabled architectural subtle revolution beyond borders and times.


LET’S TALK!
info@habitable.studio t. (+1) 530 507 8896

HABITABLE

DESIGN/ ARCHITECTURE/ ART






Ludens Prototype
The 47th NISSHIN KOGYO Architectural Competition “Living upon the PLAY”, Japan (2020)




A pipe and a curtain allow for the joys of life, a private retreat for creatures to enjoy. Living is playing in the garden, the Eden of Pleasure, where all can freely participate in the delights of the new age: a life of art.

The “home” becomes a vehicle of desire and creates a truly surreal environment where contradictions play as in Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights.

Physical and sensory continuity generate the project; arcs configure a dynamic and fluid space where the freedom of the individual reigns supreme. In Homo Ludens (1938), Johan Huizinga defines play as the central activity of flourishing societies.

The system is built with a set of rules that allow for endless combinations, based on the geometry of the circle and a structure made of modular elements. Rational curves become amoebas and modular equilateral triangles become acute ones.

The “community” is alive in continuous motion, transforming itself to invite its inhabitants to take part in the pleasures of nature beyond the routine of labor.








This prototype is a novel structure, where performance becomes joy and a simple piece of fabric indulges the hidden desires of the Ludens of the 2020s, unbound from traditional architecture.


Ludens Protype will be publish in theBOOK:
Drawing Codes: Experimental Protocols of Architectural Representation
edited by A.Kudless & A. Marcus, Applied Research + Design, expected publication and exhibition 2024 

Project team: Marta Rodriguez + Michael Lindemann


CONTACT
info@habitable.studio 
t. (+1) 530 507 8896