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

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

Urban Biombo
Reinventing De Messina’s Study of St. Jerome (2019)

Urban Biombo is a portable modular habitable furniture prototype that configures a multifunctional space inside of an undefined space. It introduces the human scale into a large space, aspiring to eliminate the differences between architecture and furniture. It is a prototype that reinvents St. Jerome’s studio painted by Antonello de Messina completed in the latter half of the 15th century. Urban Biombo is a new “equipment” suitable for a house, an office, a loft, a warehouse, a clothing boutique or a book shop.

Urban Biombo is a mobile modular prototype that allows the inhabitant to define and redefine their space to accommodate all aspects of contemporary living.

Urban Biombo plays with the relationship between architecture, appliance, furniture and a biombo (folding screen), and allows mixed ways of inhabiting the space. It creates dynamic and transformable environments according to the needs of the individual.

It creates multiple lively possibilities and configurations, thanks to its dynamic quality: to work, play, exhibit, investigate, rest, or create. It has the characteristics of a folding screen. It is an adaptable, transformable, efficient, mountable, and demountable nomadic structure that connects and separates. It includes shelves, storage areas, and folding elements in multiple directions, as well as electrical connections that can incorporate lighting and speakers.

Urban Biombo can be purchased as a complete prototype —which includes 4 multifunctional units (three vertical and one horizontal) — or also as individual units. Each unit consists of a light structure with two functional panels attached, as well as wheels for easy movement. Each panel has fixed and folding elements that allow it to open, close, fold or rotate. It also includes portable shelves and baskets, seating, and resting areas. The dimensions of each unit are 30 x 180 x h 180 cm; all combined occupy 5,83 cubic meters.

Urban Biombo draws its inspiration from the Japanese byōbu or wind protection screen. It is a structure for intimacy and “serious fun” relationships that allows a multiplicity of life forms and deconstructs the modern cell eloquently satirized by Jacques Tati. It can also configure privacy spaces in disaster relief situations where it is necessary to accommodate a large number of people in open spaces.

It is very quick to assemble (10 minutes per unit). It is easy to store and easy to move. Its materials are recyclable, light and durable. It consists of a tubular aluminum structure of 1,5 cm and attached panels of melamine of 1.5 cm, with several options for color finishes.

Project team: Marta Rodriguez + Dijana Handanovic

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

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