Maruja Fuentes (March 4, 1978 – June 28, 2010) was a Puerto Rican

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and an industrial and

environmental design Environmental design is the process of addressing surrounding environmental parameters when devising plans, programs, policies, buildings, or products. It seeks to create spaces that will enhance the natural, social, cultural and physical environm ...

er.

Biography

A native of

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government. Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...

, Maruja studied

at the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,3 ...

, earned an undergraduate degree in

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

from the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. ...

, completed her master studies in architecture at

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

and studied furniture and textile design at

Savannah College of Art and Design Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is a private nonprofit art school with locations in Savannah, Georgia; Atlanta, Georgia; and Lacoste, France. Founded in 1978 to provide degrees in programs not yet offered in the southeast of the Unit ...

Works

Some of her work was featured in 2008 as part of the exhibit space IDSA.NYC reserved at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF). She achieved recognition with "Leaning Molds - Urban Furniture" winning a

Red Dot The Red Dot Design Award is a German international design prize awarded by Red Dot GmbH & Co. KG. There are prize categories for product design, brands and communication design, and design concept. Since 1955, designers and producers can apply ...

Award 2009 for

product design Product design as a verb is to create a new product to be sold by a business to its customers. A very broad coefficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products. Thus, it is a major aspect of n ...

, one of the highest recognitions in the discipline of Design. In the

Salone del Mobile The Milan Furniture Fair ( it, Salone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano) is a furniture fair held annually in Milan. It is the largest trade fair of its kind in the world. The exhibition showcases the latest in furniture and design from countrie ...

, in Milan, on 2009 her work "Green Pockets" was a success too. The idea was to seed plants and flowers on the walls using little

flower pot A flowerpot, planter, planterette or plant pot, is a container in which flowers and other plants are cultivated and displayed. Historically, and still to a significant extent today, they are made from plain terracotta with no ceramic glaze, wi ...

s built up on

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

and mixing them with tiles with the same shape. * Green Pockets (2009) * Planter Wall Tiles (2009) * Eco-Friendly Leaning Molds (2008) * Flower Pods * Bent Glass * Nesting Lamp She was teacher and Director on the Department of Industrial Design at the

Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño de Puerto Rico The Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño de Puerto Rico ( en, School of Plastic Arts and Design of Puerto Rico) is an institution of higher learning engaged in the training of students in the visual arts. It is located in Old San Juan, San Ju ...

. Also was a teacher of Architecture in the School of Architecture of Puerto Rico. Her last year was teacher and coordinator of the Industrial Design programme of the Escuela Internacional de Diseño of the

University of Turabo A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

About her work

About her aspirations

Death

Maruja died on June 28, 2010, after losing her battle against

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

, a type of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. She was 32 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuentes, Maruja Architects from Ponce, Puerto Rico Deaths from leukemia Georgia Tech alumni 1978 births 2010 deaths