Deborah Garcia

Deborah Garcia was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She is an innovative architectural critic and spatial activator focused on transforming our interaction with everyday spaces to reshape economic, cultural, and narrative structures. Her explorations have led her around the globe, examining the interplay between sensory experiences, communal narratives, and systemic feedback loops. She was the recipient of the Princeton University Butler Traveling Fellowship and has held residencies at MASS MoCA, ARTFarm Nebraska, and more. In 2019, she participated in the Arctic Circle Expedition in Svalbard, Norway, further expanding her international research scope. Deborah also held curatorial roles at A+D Architecture and Design Museum and One Night Stand for Art and Architecture-LA. She holds a Bachelors of Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture and a Masters of Architecture from Princeton University.

Her recent work at MIT as the 2021 Marion Mahony Emerging Practitioner Fellow involved radical integration of sound in architectural design, leading the SOUND STUDIO, and creating the RECORDAR system for spatial sound recording and broadcasting. Her work has been exhibited at the Harvard ArtLab, Lichen Design Incubator and Showroom, Exhibit Columbus, MIT Keller Gallery, and more. Her methods seek to reveal and influence underlying psychic and institutional spaces, fostering a continuous engagement with collective consciousness linked to our environments. Deborah also teaches at the Yale School of Architecture.