Magdalena Valdevenito Belmar

Assistant Professor in Architecture

Magdalena Valdevenito is a Chilean designer, researcher, and educator. She is the founder and director of affirma, a Santiago based practice. Her interest develops in the exploration of building assemblies, understood with regard to technical detailing, in relationship to building performance, simulation, and materiality;  and on the other hand, as the implicit space for community making: rooted in political attitude, embodied in social resilience, soft activism and context-aware design. The overlap between these research spheres comprises a critical lens to discuss architecture as a catalyst for socio-ecological change. She believes in slow fieldwork, where unveiling the deep layers surrounding habitats and infrastructure is crucial to generating sensible design. To her, places and buildings hold ghosts of culture and history, and their detailing and wear trace a dialogue with their environment.

Her work has taken the form of speculative design films, essays, simulation analysis, exhibitions, and built work. Her research has developed in a multitude of media and scales, as she believes that knowledge production should be collaborative, experimental, and heterogeneous.

She holds a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University, a Masters in Sustainable Architecture and Energy from Universidad Católica de Chile, and a Bachelor’s degree from the same institution. She has taught at New Jersey Institute of Technology, Syracuse University, and Columbia University. As a licensed Architect in Chile, Valdevenito has 8 years of experience practicing in Santiago, New York City, and Syracuse.