María Esteban Casañas

María Esteban Casañas is currently a Project Lead and Researcher at MITdesignX, an academic program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) dedicated to design innovation and entrepreneurship. The initiative helps build new business ventures and forward-thinking solutions designed to address critical challenges facing the future of cities and the human environment. She is also the co-founder of a design education company based in the United States, which was launched through a Venture Accelerator program at MIT.

Esteban Casañas graduated from MIT with a Master of Science in Architecture Studies. During her time at MIT, she conducted research at the Self-Assembly Lab, working on programmable material technologies alongside the lab’s founder, Skylar Tibbits, a pioneer in the field of 4D Printing. This research on the intersections between artificial intelligence, computation, and design was recognized with the MIT Thesis Prize.

Prior to her time at MIT, Esteban Casañas received her master’s degree in Architecture from the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London (UCL) with Distinction, and graduated with a Master of Arts in Architecture from the University of Edinburgh.

In 2017, Esteban Casañas was awarded the Rome Prize in Architecture from the Spanish Academy in Rome, where she developed individual research on computational design as a Rome Prize Fellow. The following year, Esteban Casañas became a collaborator at Harvard University, developing new bio-inspired materials at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.

She has worked at a number of renowned design and architecture offices including Grimshaw Architects in London and Dominique Perrault in Paris, and has designed and built installations and exhibitions at galleries in Boston, Chicago, Edinburgh, Los Angeles, London, Madrid, Rome, Seoul, Venice, and other sites. Esteban Casañas participated in the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, and in the 13th, 14th, and 17th Venice Architecture Biennales. Her work has been featured in international publications, and she has received various awards and scholarships.

In addition to her current role as an Adjunct Professor at IE University’s School of Architecture and Design, Esteban Casañas has lectured at a variety of institutions including Korea University, University of Plymouth, the Architectural Association Visiting School Madrid, and MIT, and has been a guest critic at Cornell University in Rome. She was named one of the “Top 24 Most Innovative and Radical Female Artists in Spain” by El Mundo magazine in 2019, and in 2020, she was included in the list of “Spaniards who are Changing the World” from La Razón newspaper.

Corporate Experience

• MIT designX Project Lead. 2020 - Present

Academic Experience

• Adjunct Professor at IE School of Architecture and Design, IE University. 2021 - Present

• Research Assistant. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 2019 - 2020

• Teaching assistant. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 2018 - 2019

• Teaching Assistant at Self-Assembly Lab. 2018 - 2019

Academic Background

• Master of Science in Architecture Studies. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 2018 - 2020

• Master of Architecture, The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. 2013 - 2015

• MA (Hons) in Architecture. The University of Edinburgh. 2009 - 2013