Selected Work
Concept drawing made to address questions of access and control through the
use of pre-fabricated building materials. This was the start of a dialogue between quick
assembly, highy accessible elements and the traditional walled garden.Site plan of Paternoster Square.
Site plan overlayed with diagrams produced with the means
of compiling an in depth site analysis of how people behave
and interact in this site.
Diagrams showing what areas in Paternoster Square could go
unnoticed by all factors observed in the site analysis report.
Circulation diagram studying the occupation of space by an individual at a bus
stop. How do individuals engage with others in a public space?
1. How To Build The Ideal Walled Gardenproject type:
Third Year project and technical case study
Architectural Association, London
2023-2024
project location:
London, United Kingdom
in focus: Paternoster Square
This project investigates how architecture
constructs — and sometimes restricts —
public space. Inspired by the paradox of the
walled garden as both refuge and boundary,
it critiques the illusion of openness and the
elements that create boundaries in pseudopublic
spaces by looking at Paternoster
Square as an example.
Using Paternoster Square as a site to
explore a privately owned public space, the project adressed the role of architecture
in defining the limitations of “public-ness”
and the extent to which legislation acts as a
limitation to the built environment.
Images of
the final model where different spatial identities
of the tram were used to make an “exploded” view.Diagram explaining how the drawing tools I created to draw visual
representations of public transport rituals work. Each tool was meant to be used if I
observed a repeated action from passengers aboard the tram. The unique configuration
of lines created was meant to be an abstract of the tram ride experience.Extract from book made to explain how different moments
aboard the tram become rituals without the people performing
them even noticing, and why these acts are ritualistic.
Isometric views of the tram after being
intervened and before the proposed changes.
Section, plan, elevation and axonometric
drawings of two intervention proposals to be
implemented onto my Croydon tram.Before and after in different views showing the general changes
proposed to be made onto the tram.
2. The Tram
project type:
Second Year project
Architectural Association, London
2022-2023
project location:
Croydon, London
in focus: The TFL tram
This project began as a study in the unnoticed
rituals of commuting. By crafting bespoke
drawing tools to document rider behavior, I
developed a deeper understanding of public
spatial rhythms — ultimately proposing
subtle architectural interventions to enrich
this shared experience. Not a bus but not
a train, the tram served as a stage to see
how unscripted behaviours in the public
realm can come across as ritualistic, raising
questions about whether simple changes to
what creates a ritual can change the way we
navigate a familiar space, and perhaps enhance different behaviours.
This flag shows the rough equivalent of what
a month’s worth of murders looks like following
femicide rate statistics from 2021.Research and site investigation images
of the remaining graffiti and protest vandalism from feminist
protests across Mexico City, 2021.Map of bodies found in Mexico City tagged
as femicide cases, followed by a timeline trajectory
from 2016 - 2020.Early stage concept drawings of the petate installation meant to be
a representation of a makeshift market stall.Interventions on clothes where the names
of femicide victims was written on different “hidden”
parts of clothing as a way of passively protesting.
Images of myself in the stall from which I could
passively gave away clothes with the names of femicide victims
written on them as a way of sowing their memory.
3. Sembrando Memoria
project type:
Foundation final project
Architectural Association, London
May 2021
project location:
Mexico City, Mexico
in focus: Historic Center of Mexico City
(Zócalo)
This project explores the interdisciplinarity
of architectural design, specifically as a
forensic tool. The femicide crisis in Mexico
can be viewed as cultural and political,
but in this project I questioned the ways
in which space plays a role in addressing
violence and crime. Mexico has been facing decades of brutal femicide cases that
continue to escalate year after year. In
this project I looked at the contemporary
feminist movement in Mexico through
different technical ways of recording
such as mapping. site interventions, and
social experimentation through spatial
circumstances. Using the ‘petate’ — a
traditional Mexican burial material — this
installation reclaims public space as a site for
collective mourning and cultural memory.
The project underscores how craft and
ritual can become spatial tools of resistance.
Disection of pieces separated (above)
and then what the volume should look like
once all pieces are assembled (below).
Technical Sheet with complete relevant dimensions
for marble quarry and diagram showing how to assemble
the faces of cut stone onto the iron frame.
WIP at the marble quarry and
fabricator studio and
final sculpture installed in client’s garden.
4. “Icon” Project
project type:
commision project
project location:
Mexico City, Mexico
Shown above is the design
and structure of a marble
sculpture commisioned for a
birthday gift. The client wanted
an “Icon” for their garden, and
with some research this design
emerged where each “building
block” represents one of the
family members, the largest
one being the person it was
intended for as it is meant to
represent their connection
with their loved ones.
5. Models
project type:
model making skills
project location:
Varied
Above are images of a selection of models which I produced between 2020-2024, meant to express my model-making skills.
Reference ImageRenderExhibition ImageExhibition Render
6. Renders + Visualization
project type:
digital skills
project location:
n/a
Above are a selection of renders and visualizations which I produced throughout 2022-2025, meant to express my skills in producing visualizations.
© Paola Murguia