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Mariana Cabugueira is the CEO, Architect and Founder of [MC] Studios, a London-based practice designing buildings, masterplans and immersive environments across physical sites and digital worlds. With senior experience at Zaha Hadid Architects, a Director role at the metaverse company Wilder World, and a postgraduate degree from the AA Design Research Laboratory in London, Mariana leads an international team of talented architects, designers and Unreal Engine artists working across architecture, AI, extended reality and cinematic production.The studio is currently designing public landmarks in Brazil with the Government of Ceará, a civic landmark in India, a masterplan airport in Saudi Arabia, Dubai’s first Icon-Dedicated Tower, AI-CGI for the UAE, the Philippines, Europe, and the iconic NBA stadium project in Las Vegas.At the core of our work is a clear stance: architects must lead world-building in both physical and virtual space; AND - when facing automation - we will distinguish ourselves through our human-craftmanship design approach - we master these tools seamlessly - they dont master us - and thats our Digital Authorship.
In this talk, Mariana Cabugueira makes the case for why architects need to play a far greater role in shaping virtual environments. Drawing on her journey from traditional architectural practice into immersive design, she reflects on working within the metaverse, building large-scale virtual worlds, and ultimately founding her own studio focused on the overlap between physical and digital architecture. The talk explores how architects can move beyond conventional practice to become designers of interactive, playable, and emotionally engaging spaces in Unreal Engine and other emerging platforms. Mariana argues that virtual space should not be left solely to game designers and developers, but seen as a new frontier for architectural thinking, where questions of presence, form, atmosphere, and human experience still matter deeply. It is both a personal story of reinvention and a broader call for architects to expand their role in a rapidly evolving digital future.
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