- Design Practices
About me
I have worked for more than 25 years in architecture and the built environment and have been in academia since 2010 in both undergraduate and postgraduate level. I was a director and partner at a medium-size international practice for more than 10 years co-managing the practice as well as leading on many competition-winning projects. In 2011 I founded the award-winning practice Room 102 ltd, with a strong interest in community-driven and public realm projects. Previously I held positions at firms such as Coop Himmelb(l)au and Hopkins&Partners.
I am passionate about the creative process, recognising its potential to generate positive impacts across spatial, social, economic, and environmental realms. My experience spans diverse domains, covering both small and large-scale projects. From interventions in the built environment to ecologically driven landscape design and urban planning, as well as engaging art strategies with public involvement, I embrace a multifaceted approach.
I am the Live Projects Lead at the School of Architecture+Cities and pride myself on active communication with stakeholders, believing that dynamic and close teamwork results in better outcomes. I lead on many Live Projects, and ‘The Growing Space’ has been nominated by the Architectural Journal for a Small Projects Award as well as the Structural Timber Award. We also co-developed and built the Floating Forum at Cody Dock as well as Our Canopy at Clitterhouse Farm. There is a strong impact of the Live Projects both within the school, Marylebone and Harrow Campus, within the communities we serve and to colleagues and the research community.
I established the Live Design Practice, a platform that fosters the development of diverse Live Projects and am part of the UK's Projects Offices Forum as part of the Architectural Association of Educators (AAE). These initiatives are dedicated to action research, knowledge exchange, social value creation, and the exploration of innovative and alternative practices.
In addition, I contribute to the Professional Practice Part III Course, where I led a tutor group for many years and am an oral examiner for the final RIBA III architects qualification exam, also at other universities.
I graduated with a diploma from the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL in addition to obtaining a Masters. Previously she studied architecture at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna for her BA and art at UCSB (University of California, Santa Barbara).
Maria has given upskilling seminars to local councils and their regeneration teams financed by the GLA regarding the process of briefing, designing and constructing building projects based on RIBA work stages. This included understanding risks and opportunities of different building contracts holistically as well as basics for tendering and managing quality control throughout the project stages.
Teaching
I am a Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy and Senior Lecturer.
My professional values and personal teaching philosophy are based on integrating professional practice and research early on into the teaching environment. I believe in integrating learning activities that empower students to shape environments directly, experiencing the entire design and construction phases with an in-depth understanding of the complex decision-making processes, collaborating with stakeholders throughout the work stages via workshops and creative engagement.
My teaching and research are informed by various pedagogies, including Experiential and Tacit Learning, drawing on theories such as constructivism, embodied knowing, Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory (ELT), and John Dewey's 'learning by doing' approach, which I will discuss further below. These approaches collectively shape my methods, aiming to foster deeper engagement and understanding among students while adapting to the evolving needs of contemporary education.
At the Association of Architectural Educators conference, I presented the paper ‘Live Projects=Life Learning’, emphasising experiential teaching beyond theory-based learning. The idea of ‘Live Learning’ is based on briefs embedded in Live Projects, seeing architecture as an applied discipline intersecting with society’s systems and needs. Students shape environments directly, gaining hands-on experience and learning to understand the complex briefing, design and construction processes first hand. I see architecture as an interconnected applied art, which intersects with society and its political, economic and ecological systems among others.
My professional values and personal teaching philosophy are based on integrating professional practice and research early on into the teaching environment. I believe in integrating learning activities that empower students to shape environments directly, experiencing the entire design and construction phases with an in-depth understanding of the complex decision-making processes, collaborating with stakeholders throughout the work stages via workshops and creative engagement.
Vygotsky's social learning theory emphasises that learning is a social process, where interaction with peers, mentors, and the environment plays a central role. His concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) highlights the importance of collaboration, where learners advance through guided support (scaffolding) from more knowledgeable individuals. In the architectural education, the studio environment is often collaborative, with students working together on design projects, such as Live Projects, learning from peers and industry collaborators whilst receiving guidance from tutors. Students often learn more effectively through group critiques, peer feedback, and collaborative design charrettes. The ZPD is particularly relevant when more experienced collaborators help less experienced students navigate complex design problems, promoting deeper learning through social interaction.
I taught at Cardiff University for several years before joining Westminster University. I have previously also taught intermittently at Oxford Brooks University and at the London Metropolitan University.
Further Information the the DS20 MArch RIBA II studio I co-lead: http://www.openstudiowestminster.org/master-of-architecture-march-ri...
Further information on the Live Design Practice/Projects Platform:
http://www.openstudiowestminster.org/beyond-studio/live-design-practice/
Research
Maria’s research encompasses the combination of exploring the architect’s wider role in society, also as a social value creator, as well as promoting and enhancing ecological considerations in the built environment.
Promoting community and student-led initiatives serves to embed collective power within ecological localism and demonstrates that design ambition can effectively align with collaborative efforts through participatory design.
Her research explores how through Live Projects new ideas are tested, questioning existing processes and structures, and allowing experimentation to thrive, whilst helping instigate and promote change regarding equity and local ecology within communities.
Maria has been engaged in more than ten Live Projects since 2017, as part of the Live Design Practice, using these projects as case studies for making, interrogation, analysis, and reflection. She is critically analysing and reflecting on Live Projects, exploring insights into academic discourse, alternative practice, and social value creation, as part of the Live Design Practice she has set up: http://www.openstudiowestminster.org/beyond-studio/live-design-practice/
Being exposed to the entire briefing, design and construction process within academia, engaging with stakeholders, consultants, makers and local communities, yields valuable study and promotes in-depth knowledge exchange. The concept of Live Projects is rooted in developing briefs directly embedded in society, encompassing its political, economic, social, and ecological systems in relation to our lived experience. When briefs are implanted in the 'real world,' the complexity of decision-making, including powerful but invisible factors within the built environment, is experienced first-hand.
Live Projects are contextualised within Learning Theories, illustrating how 'live exposure' transforms into learning through a continuous cycle of experiencing, reflecting, thinking, and acting. Reflecting on methodologies for development and making, exploring their impact on the process and outcome, while developing an understanding of complex dynamics within group work and external stakeholder relationships is part of the live research. Pedagogically, Live Projects are situated in the context of Experiential Learning and Experiential Knowledge Creation, drawing on theories like constructivism and embodied knowing.
Publications
For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.