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© 2026, Lía Duarte Rodríguez
I am an architect and spatial researcher based in Berlin and Santo Domingo. My research investigates the social dynamics behind spatial production, the movement of subjects across territories, the spaces they find themselves interacting with, and the narratives that surround them.
My doctoral research examines plural methodologies and epistemologies for investigating how space is assembled in a transcalar manner by focusing on the spatialization of practices of care and social reproduction in plantation territories in the Caribbean.
I am part of the collective spatial:cru. There, we use critical pedagogies of co~creation, re:cognition, and (un)learning to question dominant structures of knowledge and oppressive spatial relations while articulating practices of collaboration.
2024 - Doctoral Candidate, Hochschule Anhalt
2020 - 2023 M.Sc. Architecture Typologies, TU Berlin
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hidden labors, (un)caring territories:
architectures and landscapes of invisibilized migrant care work in the Dominican Republic
Draws on theories of care and social reproduction, everyday minor architectures, and decolonial studies to investigate the often-hidden spatial aspect of migrant care and reproductive work by taking as point of departure plantation territories in the Dominican Republic. Moving away from the narratives of production that characterise these, the research asks which spatialities, trajectories, infrastructures, and practices are the ones (re)produced for sustaining life in and beyond the plantation, that is, life’s work. By emphasising how space is assembled in a transcalar manner and expanding the understanding of architectural production and spatial agency, the research fosters a reading of the relational dimension that characterises (un)caring relationships within production regimes.
ongoing
doctoral research
doctoral research
a look into the trajectories of (paid) domestic workers
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
In 2022, in the Dominican Republic, paid domestic work employed 12.35% of the economically active female population, being the third biggest brand of employment for women in the country.
(un)caring landscapes, looks into the hostile environments produced and reproduced in the country under the asymmetrical power relationships between (care)givers and (care)receivers, with a special focus on live-in paid household work in Santo Domingo.
2023
research
research
axonometry of a room for a domestic worker.
the room for the domestic worker allocated in the employer’s apartment.
Narrations from one’s home to the other’s home. Mapping the journey of a domestic worker to her employer’s home in Santo Domingo.
Domesticity in the Dominican Republic demands the presence of a (paid) household worker in the houses of the middle and upper classes in the country. Architectures of the home end up confining and attaching these women to areas traditionally recognized under the label of service spaces.
Taking my position as point of departure, home, safe space? aims to contest notions of domesticity in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic and give a glimpse of such through the lenses of a critical spatial analysis.
2023
film essay
film essay
As many other (un)paid care-works, laundry has always been identified as a female responsibility.
Traditionally, depending on where the laundry was being done, it promoted conditions for socializing and developing kinship among female care-workers. An opportunity to alleviate struggles of daily life by sharing stories and common struggles.
By appropiating for a weekend Lausitzer Platz in Berlin,
2022
performance,
urban intervention
with Lea Weise,
Emil Bodo, Elnaz Shafiezadeh,
Gwen Ackermann
performance,
urban intervention
with Lea Weise,
Emil Bodo, Elnaz Shafiezadeh,
Gwen Ackermann
Personal narrations on a journey through the Archives of the Berlin Zoologischer Garten and the on-going role of the institution on reproducing colonial ideals through its architectural objects.
2022
film essay
film essay
Casa Hogar Paola Buenrostro
By using care as the primary lens to understand the project, we employed architectural visualization tools to highlight the care practices, people, and spaces involved.
2022
research
mapping
research
mapping
Casa Paola Buenrostro, Mexico City
The former Lufthansa Cargo building at Tegel Airport in Berlin is adapted in order to host work spaces. The framework proposed is flexible enough so that the different working spaces can converge in communal thresholds, corridors and inner courtyards.
2021
architectural design
with Bachir Benkirane, Pablo Prado Serrano, Inés Vachez
architectural design
with Bachir Benkirane, Pablo Prado Serrano, Inés Vachez