Bio

Marina is an architect (ETSAB, UPC and TU Delft) with 10 years of professional experience in sustainable architecture (in Catalonia, Belgium and the Netherlands), in particular within the framework of school projects (primary schools, nursery, higher conservatory of music, etc.) and public facilities as well as in the renovation of listed buildings (Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona, ​​UNESCO). In 2016, she founded with Maruxa Touceda the architectural firm Plus-research, based in Brussels, which combines professional practice with academic research, with a special interest in the development of decision support tools around sustainability of the life cycle of renovations. + reseARCH prioritizes reflection on existing constructions with a specific focus on educational facilities: renovation, re-conversion, reorganization, redevelopment for updating to current needs and, above all, future needs.

Among their studies and publications are the “Inspiration guide for the design of classrooms and the construction of schools” (Acco, 2019) developed for the Flemish Ministery of education and the guide “Mon école, un espace de qualité ” for the Brussels Capital region (Perspective.Brussels, 2018), a design support tool that aims to provide a common framework and to support dialogue between all the stakeholders in the school context in Brussels, in order to guide interventions and investments and promote the transition to action.

Project

"Redesign of schools during Covid-19 - lasting effects worthwhile"

As the world battles with finding a healthy footing in the educational sector, we aim to spread light on how some schools are coping in their everyday life in an attempt to inspire others in their struggle to provide good education in a Covid-19-safe environment. Through the exploration of the physical design, the managerial decisions and the teachers' and students' perception of their workplace, we hope to discover good practices that can inspire across nations, cultures and educational systems.

Starting the project in our own countries (Belgium, Catalonia, Denmark and Sweden), we hope to meet at Faber in Olot to bring it all together in a cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary investigation of the collected data. Being able to meet physically to exchange knowledge and work together would be a requirement for the success of this project. Furthermore, it is our aim to involve and inspire the local educational environment by inviting local educational policy makers and leaders to participate in the discussions of our findings, which would even help us develop our research with further knowledge and a perspective from outside the group.