Gabriela Ornelas has a background in Architecture and Urban Planning and holds a Master’s degree in Human Geography. She is interested in how architecture affects the way people live beyond the built object, i.e. how distinct groups express their cultural, social and political singularities in space, and how space affects these expressions. Guided by these interests, she has accumulated experience inside and outside academia. In her early professional life, Gabriela worked with cultural heritage, aiming to increase protection and conservation. Following this, she worked on the reconstruction process after a man-made disaster, specifically with social participation. She conducted research on how territoriality influences social cohesion, seeking better urban conditions in deprived areas. In between, she taught undergraduate students in Architecture and Urban Planning. Finally, returning to academia, she first used GIS (geographic information system) to analyze street network and mobility aspects and is now part of the RTG “Organizing Architectures”.
E-Mail: gabriela.ornelas@tu-darmstadt.de