HABITABLE studio
DESIGN / ARCHITECTURE / CITYinfo@habitable.studio
t. (+1) 530 507 8896
DESIGN / ARCHITECTURE / CITYinfo@habitable.studio
t. (+1) 530 507 8896
PHILOSOPHY
Economy · Ecology · Elegance
A habitable space is one that changes just as our lives change.
HABITABLE Studio designs transformable environments across scales — from a single piece of furniture to an urban block — for living, working, and playing. Every project is guided by precise proportions, meticulous materiality, and a deep attention to light.
Small things make a big impact.
DESIGN SERVICES
ARCHITECTURE / ART / URBAN DESIGN
“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
Neuroarchitecture Researcher · Design Consultantmarta@habitable.studio
A chair and a city are not as different as they seem. Both are environments that can support human life.
I started my career at OMA / Rem Koolhaas in Rotterdam, on the team that won the international competition for the New Court Rothschild Bank in London. Back in Madrid, I ran my own practice winning several public building competitions, while collaborating with Lahoz Lopez Architects on schools and hospitals.
In 2008 I began a research path that took me to Tokyo — funded by the Spanish Ministry of Innovation — then to UC Berkeley as a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Japanese Studies, and to Sciences Po in Paris as a Visiting Fellow, where I co-led a seminar on Japanese urbanism with sociologist Adrian Favell. That research became my PhD, specializing in Japanese architecture and French design, reviewed by scholars from Japan and France. In 2017 I was Visiting Professor at TU Graz in Austria on an Erasmus+ grant.
In 2014 I joined the University of Houston as an Assistant Professor, tenured since 2020. In 2020 I founded HABITABLE Studio — a research-driven design practice. The work moves between scales: from the Ludens Prototype (an international competition in Japan exploring play and spatial freedom), to the Living Chair (an urban furniture landscape crafted from recycled materials), to the Pinocchio Children's Library in Italy (a world that unfolds like origami), to collective housing proposals for San Francisco, Oakland, and Amsterdam. The common thread is transformability — designing for how life actually changes.
I also founded Habitable City, a research and editorial platform with contributions from scholars at UC Berkeley, Rice, UT Austin, Harvard GSD, and others. In 2021 I published a book on Charlotte Perriand and Kazuyo Sejima.
My writing and design work have appeared in Metropolis, TAD, AV Proyectos, Pasajes Arquitectura y Crítica, and Cover, with a chapter published in Thames & Hudson's Architecture: The Whole Story. Presented at conferences across the US, Europe, Korea, and Japan. A piece invited by Harvard GSD is coming in 2026.
I am interested in design research, spatial innovation, and the future of how we design environments — from objects to cities — around the way people actually live.
HABITABLE TEAM
+ Marta Rodriguez, PhD
Founder & Principal - Professor, Author, and Urban Researcher.
+ 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 / CITYinfo@habitable.studio
t. (+1) 530 507 8896
PUBLICATIONS
MEDIA
Promoting a more egalitarian, connected, safe, and LIVABLE city
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