Registered in England and Wales | London-Based International Practice
About [MC] Studios
[MC] Studios (Mariana Cabugueira Studios) is a London-based architecture and design practice operating within the physical and digital built environments.
Founded in 2023 by Mariana Cabugueira, after six years as Senior Architect at Zaha Hadid Architects, the studio stands on solid architectural ground, positioned between design, technology, and human experience.
We are recognised in London and internationally for authored, high-impact and unique work. Our projects are often Landmark commissions that demand passion, consistency, and vision.
We design buildings, masterplans, and virtual environments with the same expertise. We work seamlessly with architectural mastery and advanced
parametric design, Unreal Engine, and AI.
[MC] Studios, our architecture is fluid, iconic, and memorable. Our spaces are designed to be lived, experienced, and remembered.
We work with purpose and conviction. Our team believes in authored architecture, not generic production. You recognise it by its geometry, sophistication, and presence.
[MC] Studios stands as one of London’s emerging forces in architecture, leading the bridge between the physical, the virtual, and the built in-between.
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The Founder
Mariana Cabugueira
Architectural Director and Founder of [MC] Studios.
[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, masterplans, towers and a stadium. In the construction phase: a landmark 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 South America.
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 distinguish ourselves through our human-craftmanship design approach - we master these tools seamlessly, they don’t master us - and that’s our clear Digital Authorship.
Our Process
Architect Pre-Concept and Concept design
Every project begins with architectural vision or visions. We start with form-finding; we test proportion and performance. Typology is often challenged before convention is introduced.
Collaborative structure
Constant coordination between architects, engineers designers, and visualisers. Client and team clean and direct contact is key.
AI x 3D stance
We are known for our capacity to tame 3D complexity and craft fluidity. We were also early adopters of AI visualisation. Yet it became clear that we draw a line between automated visualisation for early pre-concepts and keep our talent to craft architecture. We are versatile with AI on every new model, but it never replaces our 3D modelling or our trained eye to design.
Integrated workflows
Autodesk Maya, Rhino, Grasshopper, Unreal Engine, AI, and BIM operate under one continuous pipeline.
Iterative Design
We work in live feedback loops between softwears. Geometry, performance, and design are iterated at early stage. As the design freezes, we move forward towards detail iteration and development.
Physical and digital parallelism
We believe and are able to execute built form and its digital twin. Immersiveness will be the future of space, and architects will carry them.
Delivery
By the end of every stage we deliver full geometry, structured documentation, and cinematic visualisation that communicates our vision and the project buildability.
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Our Expertise
[MC] Studios is young, but we have been consistently
commissioned to deliver icons.
Fluid High-End Design and Execution.
After ten years in high-end architectural practice, Mariana has become a recognised architectural figure in fluid design and execution, feasibility, team structure, and the consultant coordination required to deliver complex geometry.
3D modelling and software versatility.
The ability to shift, test, and adapt design seamlessly. The whole team has either worked with Mariana at ZHA or studied under her. They are fully fluent in all 4 major softwares that are considered essential for executing high-end architecture - from AI to Unreal Engine, Maya, Rhino, Grasshopper, Revit.
Landmarks and Icons.
We carry a strong culture of design and landmark building. [MC] Studios is young, but we have been consistently commissioned to deliver icons. We started directly with a major commission in India and a high-profile client, and we never stopped since. We have consistently dealt with professionalism large-scale, high-responsibility projects. Our clients know that when they approach us, the project is ambitious, it will be a landmark for the city, for the country.
Sustainability is part of our architectural practice. We insist on it, in design live simulation under dynamic conditions, efficiency smart logic and contextual data.
AI and visualisation.
[MC] Studios is proud to have within the team the lead in AI logistics and visualisation, someone who follows the progress of every model released, integrates with precision and care. Tests and shares the knowledge on every evolution of technology.
Knowledge passing is part of our culture. Our team works collectively, as teachers, students, colleagues; we learn, we test and we gather to share methods and improve workflows.
And finally, we work with one of the finest BIM specialists in the industry, former colleagues from Zaha, creators of one of the most advanced plug-ins connecting Rhino to Building Information Modelling. This makes our models fully rationalised and adaptable to all construction specialists.
We are experts in technology, visualisation, 3D modelling, and landmark architecture;
We work with passion, precision, stubborness to deliver quality and highest commitment.
Our Philosophy
[MC] Studios is built on the vision that architecture is both human and technical. We design through complex structure and human proportion, our spaces are designed with both in mind, how design expresses a client, a culture and a vision; how spaces are are built, felt, and lived by humans.
Our philosophy is grounded in authorship. Our projects begin with intent, every decision carries a purpose. Design remains in the hands of architects, the tools change and empower us.
We build with ambition and responsibility, creating architecture that stands as a landmark, connects to its culture, and speaks to its time. Technology is integrated, it is not leading. Craft is the key to uniqueness.
AI, Unreal Engine, and computational parametric tools are part of our commong language. They enhance design, accelerate
precision, and open new opportunities for experimentation. We use technology intelligently, never dependently.
Our work begins with authorship and ends with permanence. Architecture that performs, that belongs, and endures.
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(Letter from the Director)
I am one of the few architects you will ever meet holding the strongest conviction that the architecture of today demands Human Lead. One of the few who believes that it demands authorship - as authorship makes you responsible - complexity tamed by precision, and the ability to move seamlessly between disciplines (technology), AI and Computational tools (software and hardware) and realities (physical and virtual).
[MC] Studios was founded with this belief. We design, we visualise, and we build environments, narratives and Landmark architecture. Our design process iterates from ideas to form, from form to structure, from drawing to AI, virtual and digital twins.
We are architects who 3D model, 3D craft, and Lead the Industry. Every design is authored, responsible, tested, and built by those who understand that architecture is both a statement and a living space.
We are not a production line. We are a studio, focused, agile, precise, and present. Every project we receive is treated with intent and passion, every outcome we deliver carries identity. In this website you will meet [MC] Studios. Architecture made by International architects, intelligent, human, relevant and memorable.
I am one of the few architects you will ever meet holding the strongest conviction that the architecture of today demands Human Lead. One of the few who believes that it demands authorship - as authorship makes you responsible - complexity tamed by precision, and the ability to move seamlessly between disciplines (technology), AI and Computational tools (software and hardware) and realities (physical and virtual).
[MC] Studios was founded with this belief. We design, we visualise, and we build environments, narratives and Landmark architecture. Our design process iterates from ideas to form, from form to structure, from drawing to AI, virtual and digital twins.
We are architects who 3D model, 3D craft, and Lead the Industry. Every design is authored, responsible, tested, and built by those who understand that architecture is both a statement and a living space.
We are not a production line. We are a studio, focused, agile, precise, and present. Every project we receive is treated with intent and passion, every outcome we deliver carries identity. In this website you will meet [MC] Studios. Architecture made by International architects, intelligent, human, relevant and memorable.
Mariana Cabugueira Custódio dos Santos
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1. Pre-Concept Stage Architectural Concepts
We turn sketches in to projects
2. Concept Stage Architecture and Postproduction for every project there is a 3D model and from every 3D model there is an automated AI redesing pipeline
3. Cinematic Narrative Visuals
We create AI Cinematic Videos for humanised Storytelling
AI x 3D INTEGRATION in Practice
We are known for our capacity to tame 3D complexity and craft fluidity. We were also early adopters of AI visualisation. Yet it became clear that we draw a line between automated visualisation for early pre-concepts and keep our talent to craft architecture. We are versatile with AI on every new model, but it never replaces our 3D modelling or our trained eye to design.
Project Phases and Deliverables
Studio involvement and production
Conceptual Design:
PHASE 1
- Deliverables: Initial sketches, mood boards, site analysis.
- Concept Design Options for site - AI and 3d Model
- Collaboration with Structural Engineer Consultant and LDI Urban Planner
Schematic Design:
PHASE 2
- Deliverables: Preliminary design, site plans, elevations.
- Adjustment of design to geometry rationalisation Phase I
- Collaboration with Structural Engineer consultant, LDI Urban Planner,
MEP Engineer consultant, Interior Design consultant
Design Development:
PHASE 3
- Deliverables: Refined plans, material selection, detailed drawings.
- Adjustment of design to refined geometry rationalisation Phase II
- Collaboration with Structural Engineer, LDI Urban Planner, MEP Engineer,
Landscape Architect, Interior Design, Cost Estimator consultant
Construction Documents:
PHASE 4
- Deliverables: Finalized drawings, specifications.
- LDI and Specializations
Bidding and Negotiation:
PHASE 5
- Contractor selection process.
- Project Manager and Builder
Construction Administration:
PHASE 6
- Construction phase.