Maria Satalan

Interior Design - BA (Hons)

“Design without beauty cannot function” is the essence of Maria’s designs. After her research she found out that in cities where this is not a factor, crimes are higher, and that beauty can improve the quality of life. This is one of her main career goals to use beauty to aid the function of her designs.

Maria is an interior designer who designs spaces which bring people together and form communities in order to reduce loneliness. This is the aim of her major project “The Muscle and Mind Gym”, which combines two opposite activities studying and working out in the same space giving people the opportunity to do both at the same time which is vital for a good work life balance and can form strong connections. She was inspired by Otto Frei and used cables using tension and compression to literally connect the elements of her design to emphasize the idea of connectivity. She also argues in her dissertation that including female architects or citizens in city planning can improve gender equality and decrease female perceived fear in public spaces.

Her medium is digital design software like AutoCAD, Photoshop, Sketchup, InDesign and Revit, as well as model making and hand drawing. Throughout her degree she had live projects from which she gained work experience. She designed two different exhibitions for the graduating fashion and interior design students at Anglia Ruskin during her second year. Her major project is redesigning the 144 Cherry Hilton Club in Cambridge after an in-depth site analysis, the design is promoting the strong history boxing has in the club. She also painted the walls of a kindergarten with cartoon characters during her summer internship. From these experiences she learnt that as an interior designer she has to think about each project to the smallest detail.