The Cooper Union's Martina Duque Gonzalez on Community, Theatrical Spaces, and Defending an Idea
By Julia Gamolina
Martina Duque Gonzalez is a thesis student at The Cooper Union. Her work and research focus on the interstice between Architecture, Performance, and Performativity, which has resulted in many different projects both in and out of school. These include an investigative video piece with SITU/Research and a research project on the history of multi-family housing in her native Mexico City with Studio Ames. Her interest in theater has led her to design multiple sets and projections for theaters both at NYU and Off-Broadway.
Why did you decide to study architecture, and how did you choose Cooper Union?
My very first experience with architecture was in second grade when my school librarian introduced me to an online game called “Architect Studio 3D: Design a House with Frank Lloyd Wright.” In the game, you would choose a location and a client and then be given a series of house building blocks all taken from Frank Lloyd Wright’s repertoire. I would spend the next months glued to my mom’s computer designing houses. Even though I didn’t know I wanted to study Architecture then, the passion for designing spaces and building things was always a part of my childhood.
It wasn’t until I took a summer course at Columbia University during Sophomore year that I realized that that was what I wanted to major in at college. Once I knew I wanted to study Architecture, it was a difficult decision between studying abroad or staying in Mexico City for university. All it took to convince me was a tour of Cooper’s crowded, chaotic, and incredible collective studio during admitted students' day. The tour guide showed us his desk, whose surface was covered in a pile of assorted models, and under which were about 10 bags of concrete mix for a project. In that moment I knew it was the place to be and now almost five years in and I know it was the right choice.
Screen printed diorama showing a typical Mexico City rooftop (azotea). Courtesy of Martina.
What was the most significant project to you that you worked on in architecture school?
At Cooper, the fourth-year cohort is presented with a series of “choice studios” which you can pick from based on interests. One of the choices for our first semester was a studio presented by visual investigations practice SITU Research. The studio, taught by Brad Samuels (Founding Partner at SITU) and Gauri Bahuguna (Senior Researcher at SITU) sought to design an intervention at the International Criminal Court in the Hague that re-examined architecture's relationship to our established concepts of justice. My project proposed taking over one of the existing buildings to create an exterior public theater in which programs, events, and theatrical performances could take place. My project transformed the already grid-like facade of the central court building into an operating theatrical lighting grid and fly tower. The project responded to the limitations of judicial space and the complications of bureaucracy of International Law and invited people to think of ways in which theater can complement or re-define our processes of Justice.
This project at Cooper was very important for many reasons. The first being that it planted the seeds for my thesis. I have been exploring the pressures of theater on architectural space, but more specifically how the reimagining of the theatrical play-space creates spaces in which time and place can overlap. This liminal and temporal quality of theater becomes particularly relevant when dealing with plays that focus on historical memory and collective consciousness. With Bahuguna as my thesis advisor, it is inevitable to return to the ideas and themes of my fourth-year project while working on my thesis.
Beyond my schoolwork, the fourth-year studio was significant because that semester was followed by a summer internship at SITU Research working on a video investigation piece with a Human Rights Organization based in Mexico City. My responsibilities ranged from combing through folders of documents and evidence, as well as story boarding and scriptwriting for the video. My favorite part was learning how to virtually reconstruct environments from declassified satellite images and historical photographs from previous investigations. Although I had not been looking for work in the field of visual investigations before, that summer completely redefined my understanding of the breadth of what is possible in an architectural career!
“...the last four years of architecture school have prepared me and given me the tools I needed to complete my thesis, but the last six months have been learning how to defend it.”
What are some of the initiatives you’ve focused on in school, and why?
For all five years at Cooper, I have been a part of the Cooper Union’s Student Lecture Series (SLS) which is entirely student curated and is an opportunity to bring speakers that reflect the interests and aspirations of our student body. The SLS is comprised of an all-student committee with two representatives from all five years.
Cooper has a long history of public engagement as our Great Hall has hosted some of the most important speaking events in the history of New York. The Architecture school has no shortage of lectures with a faculty curated lecture series and many collaborations with the Architectural League of New York. However, the SLS is particularly special because the student committee takes care of every aspect of making the lectures happen. The members of the committee conduct all of the outreach, marketing, fund management, and even moderate the lectures themselves. The SLS is a wonderful leadership opportunity and has taught me a lot about connecting with other people. But I also believe that the SLS is an integral part of the Cooper community. It is our opportunity as students to engage with practitioners that would otherwise have been overlooked, or even start thinking about alternative career paths outside of architecture. The SLS has brought theater makers, film directors, environmental advocates as well as architects with expanded unconventional practices.
In my fourth year at Coopeer, I got to be Co-Chair of the committee with my classmate Gus Crain. Instead of creating an internal thematic statement as previous chairs had done, we opened up the nominations of speakers to the entire student body as a way of truly pushing the “for students, by students” mission of the SLS.
Perspective Section of Theater design intervention at the ICC for the SITU Research studio. Courtesy of Martina.
When applying for and thinking about internships, what are you looking for in an architectural company?
My experience at Cooper has taught me that I thrive in community-oriented spaces. Each class at Cooper has between twenty and thirty-five students, so by the end of your education they are inevitably your family. We learn and fail together and have fostered a space within which we talk about our work and grow collectively.
When it comes to internships and work experiences, I have sought that same kind of tight-knit community feeling. You can be doing the most engaging project ever, but there is something invaluable about having personal connections with your co-workers and learning from the people that have more experience. I have been incredibly lucky to have worked in spaces where there is genuine care and empathy within the team, which inevitably leads to better collaboration and better work. That doesn't mean that I look exclusively for small workspaces. I think a sense of community can exist in large firms and isolation can also be fostered in small ones. I never want to feel like a cog in the machine and really value the connections that I have built through my work experiences.
What do you hope to do in your career in general?
Over the last couple of years, I have had a collection of eclectic work experiences. During the summer between my second and third year, I worked at a theater company as a production assistant. Because of the small budget, I also ended up being the set and projection designer for an Off-Broadway production. That job not only rekindled my love of theater, but it taught me that I can adapt to any new opportunity that comes my way. That was also my experience at SITU Research where I spent all summer learning about new technologies and exploring a completely different use of my architectural toolbox. Even though it is a good problem to have, my wide array of interests and work experiences have shown me that I would be happy and fulfilled in many different career paths. With my upcoming graduation my lack of clarity for my future has made the last couple of months very stressful. But now, I am open for whatever the future holds and am incredibly excited about slowly discovering the path for my career!
“...there is space and opportunity for everyone within and around the world of architecture. And if you don’t see a clear way in which you fit into the discipline, you can always invent your own path!”
What have you learned in the last six months?
The last six months have been a thesis whirlwind. Because I have been exploring the different temporalities of theatrical space, I have been having a lot of fun experimenting with modelmaking, video editing, projection and green screens. I have reconnected with some of my old projection design roots and have learnt new mapping software and have acquired some audio-visual skills I did not have before Thesis. It takes a lot of self-drive and determination to work on such a personal project.
As fun as it has been to play around in my thesis bubble, it is quickly popped whenever you ride the elevator, and someone inevitably asks: “So what’s your thesis about?” As you stumble over a thirty-second description, you realize that you cannot create your project in a vacuum and transmitting your ideas is just as important as the number of drawings on the wall. This becomes most apparent once you are standing in front of a jury that has no previous context and you have less than ten minutes to explain a year of work.
Our thesis faculty described it by saying that if you learn anything during your thesis year it is how to defend an idea. My advisor has been invaluable and over the last couple of months we have really focused on how to successfully explain my thesis. That has taken the form of thesis statement writing workshops and mastering the elevator pitch. Even practicing how to successfully deliver a ten-minute slideshow has become an essential thesis skill. It is almost as if the last four years of architecture school have prepared me and given me the tools I needed to complete my thesis, but the last six months have been learning how to defend it.
Image from Mid-Year Thesis Presentation, composing a theatrical scene with live feed and projections. Courtesy of Martina.
Who do you look up to?
There is currently an amazing wave of women that are transforming the architectural scene in Mexico like Tatiana Bilbao, Frida Escobedo, Saidee Springall, and Rozana Montiel, to name a few. It is always exciting to see Mexican architects, particularly women, receiving accolades for their distinctive and exciting new perspectives. It makes me very proud as an upcoming graduate to see the world’s interest in what Latin America has to offer to the Architecture and Design world.
The Cooper community is also full of inspiring teachers and practitioners like our current Acting Dean Hayley Eber and my thesis coordinator Nora Akawi. They are not only great architects and professors, but also amazing mothers. I also am incredibly grateful for my thesis advisor, Gauri Bahuguna, who I admire and look up to greatly. Her mentorship and friendship over the last two years has been incredibly special.
But outside of architecture, I have always looked up to all the women in my family, for without their love and support I would not be where I am today.
What advice would you give to those interested in studying architecture? Or those just starting their architectural education?
Keep pushing forward! It will be lots of hard work and sometimes it might feel like you are not on the right path. But if there is something I have learned in the last five years, it is that there is space and opportunity for everyone within and around the world of architecture. And if you don’t see a clear way in which you fit into the discipline, you can always invent your own path!