ISSUE 024
Release.     May 21, 2024


HABITABLE Furniture is a reconfigurable system of mobile elements, serving as both a flexible display and space-making solution.

JOY + ERGONOMICS + TRANSFORMABLE


We explored how design can enhance daily lives and activities, focusing on transformation and responsiveness to optimize space functionally and qualitatively. Joy and ergonomics were our primary goals.

Our collaborative project transformed a residual space in the UHCoAD into a joyful and versatile IA student lounge. Through teamwork, innovation, and a focus on ecological responsibility, we created a multifunctional furniture system. This system allows users to personalize their space for work, relaxation, and collaboration, combining advanced materials, recyclability, and playful design elements. The final prototype embodies playfulness, innovation, and user-centric design, inviting a closer look at diverse interactions within the space.

Visit each project page, including the complete magazines in PDF format, for insights into our process and results. Enjoy the journey!



OUR TEAM
Richele Refuerzo
Jesus Aquirre
Victoria Gonzalez
Alex Baltazar
Paul Chavarria
Whitney Lau
Jade Guerra
Virginia Briagas
Elena Mexicano
Thuc Tran
Mikayla Zientek
Marshall Bradley
Nicole Valdes



PROFESSOR

Marta Rodriguez
Ph.D. Architect

Marta Rodriguez's architectural journey spans continents, from Madrid to Tokyo and back to Paris, and now Houston, where she teaches and practices with a passion for creating inclusive, sustainable spaces. Her expertise in small-scale living and human-scale urban design is showcased through her award-winning projects and research-driven approach. Through her firm HABITABLE Studio and her advocacy in the Habitable City journal, Marta seeks a more connected, equitable, and livable built environment, embodying a vision of architecture that is adaptable.


TA

Lene Fourie


OUR COLLEGE

Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design
UNIVERSITY of HOUSTON

WEBSITE DESIGN

 Richele Refuerzo

THE PLAYSET






Located in the second floor of the Coad, the site sits between both studios and offices. Previosuly, this area has been overlooked due to its dullness and lack of comfortability for users to utilize for studying or leisure. When approaching this project, each team adhered to the semester's focus of joy, ergonomics, and transformability. Resulting in projects that explored different concepts and approaches.
These projects aim to provide a fun, interactive environment that exemplifies the composition of space through versatile furniture systems that challenge the contemporary narrative of static space.






PROJECTS


01 INFLATABLES


Aimed to craft a vibrant and interactive piece that doubles as a versatile furniture system, these inflatable pieces aim to blend fun and functional. Opting for an inflatable approach provided air-controlled flexibility, encouraging users to adjust the furniture to their needs while exploring asymmetry and layering.


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02 WALLPAPER


Our multi-functional wallpaper-screen aspires to integrate the elegance of wallpaper with the practicality of a folding screen. Keeping in mind the students of the COAD, we designed the panels to include rotating hinges, folding tables, and display/pin-up sections to meet their needs when in use.


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03 WEB


“Body Mods” is one of the five projects within HABITABLE Furniture. With its dedication to transform flexible and comfortable fabrics into pieces of human leisure and storage spaces, we developed moments within the space that uses webbing attributes to make them mulit-functional.


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04 LANDSCAPE


Outside In is one of five projects included in the proposal for Hines College to construct this summer. The goal of this subproject is to challenge the normal idea of seating and lounging, and to revitalize comfort by bringing in something bouncy and transformable to the body.


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05 CURTAIN


The Belly Curtains are one of the five projects for the Interior Architecture second-year program, which aims to achieve movement, connection, and disappearance. To create your own desired space for relaxation, intimacy, or an open space for gathering, the project offer the flexibility for a user to arrange and connect the curtains to create a desirable space.


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PLAY and MOVE the furniture