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Marina Santos is an architect based in California.







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New Spaces



Jury’s Citation for Research 2018
Full Thesis Publication Special thanks to Lydia Xynogala for helping edit this  publication

The built environment acts as a barrier to people with visual, auditory and physical disabilities. Anthropometric handbooks rarely reflect the bodies of persons with mobile challenges while accessible design standards continue to be considered as prescribed obligations. Architecture’s focus on the typical or average body and the resulting designs make architecture a primary source of marginalization for people with disabilities. How can we foster a design culture in which all people--regardless of age, ability or disability--have equal access to the built environment?

New Spaces imagines ten new spaces, consisting of bathrooms and kitchens, for five different individuals. The imagined individuals consist of persons with double leg prostheses, arm prosthesis, cane, crutch and wheelchair users. The ten new spaces are a result of both the individuals’ bodies and abilities and unique personalities and idiosyncrasies. These speculative spaces explore the possibilities of design for the individual human---not for the ideal man.




Part II // Thesis // Master in Architecture at the Spitzer School of Architecture // Spring 2018 


New Spaces critiques the codes and conventions of architecture and offers personal and specific spaces. What are conventions of the discipline? Why is the kitchen counter only one height? What are societal codes we prescribe to? Why must a person bathe a certain way? Does universality truly work? Or are we as a society essentializing certain bodies and ignoring others?









Exhibit 1A - Jared Exhibit 1B - Jared Exhibit 1C - Jared Exhibit 1D - Jared



Exhibit 2A - Sarah Exhibit 2B - Sarah Exhibit 2C - Sarah Exhibit 2D - Sarah



Exhibit 3A - Glenda Exhibit 3B - Glenda Exhibit 3C - Glenda Exhibit 3D - Glenda



Exhibit 4A - Marc Exhibit 4B - Marc Exhibit 4C - Marc Exhibit 4D - Marc



Exhibit 5A - James Exhibit 5B - James Exhibit 5C - James Exhibit 5D - James







Non Bodies, New Spaces desires to go beyond the minimum and to expand the possibilities of design by reconfiguring the ways in which we think about conventional bodies, spaces and culture. How do contemporary spatial conventions operate? What alternate realities can be produced in this awareness?






Part I Non Bodies