A.08 Contemporary Research Informed Practices: Dr. Marcos Cruz & Dr. Brenda Parker

Studio Name: Studio Biocene

Practice: Architecture and research practice focused on regenerative design, biomaterials, and multispecies urbanism

Location: London, UK

Lecture Name: Studio Biocene: Multispecies Futures 

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About the Practice

Studio Biocene is a research-based architectural practice exploring how design can actively participate in ecological repair. The studio works at the intersection of material science, environmental justice, and speculative design, rethinking architecture as a mediator between human and non-human worlds. Their projects range from bioplastic and mycelium-based material experiments to spatial systems that support urban biodiversity, fermentation processes, and ecological stewardship.

The studio treats architecture as an evolving ecosystem rather than a static object. In their lectures, including Multispecies Futures, Studio Biocene emphasizes the need to redesign our material and spatial habits, which involves shifting away from extraction and toward reciprocity. Their work blends laboratory experimentation with community-focused ecological interventions, using design to model more ethical relationships with land, species, and resources. Whether developing algae-based façade materials or designing spaces for interspecies cohabitation, Studio Biocene positions architecture as a regenerative act rooted in care and scientific curiosity.

About the Founders

Studio Biocene was co-founded by Professor Marcos Cruz, an architect and researcher known for pushing the discipline toward biological and hybrid living systems, and Dr. Brenda Parker, a biochemical engineer specializing in microbial processes and biotechnology. Their collaboration bridges architectural innovation and scientific methodology, allowing the studio to experiment with living matter in ways that challenge conventional building practices.

Cruz brings a longstanding interest in the body, skin, and the porous boundaries between human and environment, while Parker grounds the studio’s investigations in biochemical research and lab-based experimentation. Together, they shape Studio Biocene as a platform for rethinking material futures through biological intelligence.

DR. BRENDA PARKER

PROFESSOR MARCOS CRUZ

Research Strategies

For this profile, I studied Studio Biocene’s lectures, exhibitions, and published research, focusing on how they frame biomaterials and multispecies design as core architectural practices. I reviewed their experimental material tests, such as mycelium forms, algae-based structures, and regenerative composites, to understand how their ecological theories translate into spatial and material decisions. I also looked at interviews and project documentation that highlight their collaborative methods, especially between design, biology, and environmental science. This helped me piece together how Studio Biocene positions architecture as an active agent within ecological systems, not a separate or dominating force.

A.07 Contemporary Research Informed Practices: Mario Gooden & Sumayya Vally Comprehensive Comparison

Studio Name: Mario Gooden Studio

Practice: Architect, writer, educator; design practice operating across architecture, urbanism, exhibition design, and cultural research

Location: New York, USA

Lecture Name: Mario Gooden: Dark Space / Black Futures

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Firm Name: Counterspace

Practice: Founder and Principal Architect; researcher and curator working across architecture, urbanism, and cultural practice

Location: Johannesburg, South Africa

Lecture Name: Sumayya Vally: Architecture of Care / Counterspace: Building Otherwise

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About Mario Gooden

Mario Gooden’s practice centers Black experience, memory, and cultural identity as generators of architectural form. Rather than approaching architecture as neutral or universal, his work argues that space is deeply racialized and political. Through buildings, exhibitions, and writing, Gooden explores how architecture can both reveal and resist the historical erasure of Black presence in American space.

His projects often operate at multiple scales (homes, cultural institutions, memorials, and speculative research) blending historical analysis with contemporary spatial expression. Gooden uses architecture as storytelling, embedding narratives of survival, joy, trauma, and resilience into the built environment. His work prioritizes atmosphere, symbolism, and cultural legibility, challenging modernist traditions that have historically excluded Black spatial knowledge.

Research Strategies

For this profile, I focused on Mario Gooden’s lectures, essays, and project documentation, paying close attention to how he articulates Black space as both lived reality and design framework. I reviewed his writings on racialized space and memory alongside built and exhibited work to understand how theory translates into form. This research helped clarify how his practice uses architecture not just to house bodies, but to hold culture, history, and collective identity.

About Sumayya Vally

Counterspace is an architecture and research studio that interrogates power, memory, and belonging within cities shaped by colonialism and apartheid. Led by Sumayya Vally, the practice focuses on revealing overlooked histories and re-centering spaces traditionally occupied by marginalized communities—particularly Muslim, Black, and migrant populations.

Counterspace operates through mapping, narrative research, and spatial intervention, often working with existing sites rather than introducing dominant new forms. Vally’s work questions authorship and permanence, favoring temporary, adaptive, and relational architectures. Her designs emphasize care, ritual, and collective memory, reframing architecture as an act of listening rather than control.

Research Strategies

In researching Counterspace, I engaged with Sumayya Vally’s lectures, interviews, and project documentation, especially her work on memory mapping and decolonial design methods. I focused on how her research-led approach informs spatial decisions, material choices, and programmatic intent. This allowed me to understand how Counterspace translates social histories and lived experiences into architectural strategies rooted in care and accountability.

A.06 Contemporary Research Informed Practices: Husos Architects & Colloqate Design Comprehensive Comparison

Studio Name: Husos Architects

Practice: Architecture and urban research studio focusing on ecological design, queer domesticities, and socio-environmental justice

Location: Madrid, Spain & Bogotá, Colombia

Lecture Name: Husos: Urbanisms for Homeless Species

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Firm Name: Colloqate Design

Practice: Nonprofit design justice practice focused on racial equity, community power, and dismantling spatial injustice

Location: New Orleans, Louisiana

Lecture Name: Colloqate Design: Design Justice 

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About Husos Architects

Husos is a research-driven architecture studio known for blending spatial design with ecological thinking and social activism. Their work often explores the relationships between humans, non-human species, climate, and contemporary urban life. In Urbanisms for Homeless Species, Husos unpacked how our built environments fail the ecological systems we depend on (especially insects, pollinators, and “non-human neighbors”) and how architecture can become a tool for repairing those relationships.

Their projects use small-scale interventions, material experiments, and narrative research to rethink ideas of home, habitat, and care. Whether designing micro-climates for butterflies, alternative domestic spaces for queer communities, or cooling structures for insects, Husos challenges architects to expand their definition of who (and what) the city is for.

Research Strategies

Research was focused on the Urbanisms for Homeless Species lecture and paired it with Husos’ published work and project documentation. I spent time analyzing how their ecological and social ideas show up in their designs, especially their insect hotels, micro-habitat prototypes, and climate-responsive garden systems. I also reviewed their writing on queer domesticity and multi-species urbanism to better understand the broader frameworks guiding their practice. Altogether, this helped me see how Husos uses architecture as a way to rethink care, environment, and daily life.

About Colloqate Design

Colloqate Design is a design justice practice dedicated to building spaces that confront and dismantle the racial, economic, and political inequities embedded in the built environment. Their work spans architecture, planning, community facilitation, and policy advocacy, all rooted in the belief that design must redistribute power rather than reinforce historic harm.

Central to their philosophy is Design Justice, a framework that centers the voices of communities who have been excluded from decision-making. Their projects often take the form of community workshops, public installations, and neighborhood-level planning that challenges policing, displacement, and discriminatory zoning. Colloqate approaches architecture as a tool for liberation, using design to support community autonomy, cultural preservation, and long-term self-determination.

Research Strategies

For this profile, I drew from Colloqate’s public talks, their Design Justice framework, and several case studies from their work in New Orleans and other communities. I focused on understanding how their process actually functions, how they facilitate conversations, document community histories, and challenge systems of spatial injustice through design. Looking at their writing and interviews helped me see how their activism connects directly to their architectural work, and how they use design as a tool for building power rather than just producing buildings.