Portfolio 2024 | Diana Hernández

PO RT FO L IO

DIANA ISIS HERNÁNDEZ MÁRMOL

ABOUT

This portfolio presents a selection of architectural and creative works developed across academic, professional, and independent contexts. The projects move between space, image, and narrative, exploring design as a connective discipline.

As an architect and designer based in Mexico City, my work operates across scales and mediums, examining how identity, atmosphere, and systems shape experience. Architecture serves as a starting point, extending into interiors, AI-driven concepts, photography, and graphic language.

cont ents

01

DUBAI VIEWPORT

02

CERCA DEL CIELO

03

AI-CONCEPT EXPLORATION

04

BORDO RESILIENTE

05

SKINHEAD: A CURATED INTERIOR

06

SPECIES OF SPACES: FLUX CITY

07

DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION

08

PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIES

DUBAI VIEWPORT

Integrated and compact urban fabric

INTEGRATIVE LIVING IN DUBAI | Sustainable Housing This project is a mixed-use housing proposal developed in response to the Emirate’s rapid population growth.

The project establishes a cohesive urban framework that integrates residential, cultural, and commercial functions within a continuous public realm. Drawing from the spacial logic of the Casbah and Ksar, the design reinterprets traditional compact urban fabrics and layered volumes to create shaded circulation networks and climate-responsive housing. By merging contextual references with contemporary construction systems, the project proposes a sustainable urban model rooted in regional identity.

ANALOGOUS ARCHITECTURAL TYPES

Multi Comfort House Student’s Contest 2018 AWARDED 3rd Place National Contest Degree Thesis

01

CASBAH

KSAR Large overlapping volumes

CASBAH Underground or semi-underground construction

SITE ANALYSIS

MARSA PLAZA

DUBAI HEALTH CARE CITY

ZA’ABEEL I

DUBAI FESTIVAL CITY AL BADAA GOLF CLUB ZA’ABEEL PALACE

RAS AL KOR WILDLIFE SANCTUARY

BURJ KHALIFA

DUBAI CREEK TOWER

BUSINESS BAY

Proposed Master Plan The project integrates housing, public space, and waterfront access.

Volumes are positioned to enhance views and environmental performance.

The master prevents fragmentation while maintaining permeability.

PROPOSED MASTERPLAN

<views from the city>

CONCEPT DESIGN PROCESS

1. unit

Modular container.

U N I T E X P LO R AT I O N

2. repetition

Units multiply to form a field.

3. density

Repetition increases spatial compactness.

4. displacement

Units shift to create variation.

The development stems from the study and analysis of the KSAR’s functionality, aiming to apply the same technique to the design of apartment buildings.

BUILDING DESIGN PROCESS 1. aggregation

Units combine into a floor system.

2. stacking

Vertical repetition creates height.

4. intercalation

3. offset

Strategic alternation enhances spatial depth.

Volumes shift to form terraces.

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46

B U I L D I N G F O R M AT I O N

PUBLIC A XIS LINKING M A L L A ND L I BR A RY

WATE R F RO NT E DG E

PUB L IC PRO M E NAD E & HOUS ING F RONT

R ESI D E NTI A L C LU STE R A RO U ND P UBL I C CO R E

PEDRO SZEKELY, CC BY 2.0

SPECULATIVE ARCHITECTURE | Environmental Immersion

scaleless ground

DIEGO DELSO, CC BY SA-4.0

The project explores an architectural intervention within Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni, treating the salt flat as a utopian landscape for imagination and spatial experimentation.

An elevated reflective volume dissolves into the horizon, amplifying the illusion of infinity and blurring the boundary between sky and ground.

ELIAS ROVIELO, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Suspended elements beneath the structure enhance sensory perception, transforming the building into an immersive experience that nurtures wonder as much as an environmental awareness.

horizon without edge

SITE REFERENCES

IN COLLABORATION WITH LUCIA PALOMAR ROLE: CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT, SPATIAL STRATEGY, DRAWINGS AND VISUALIZATION

INNATUR 5 Contest Entry INFINITE HORIZONS Nature Interpretation Center

02

CERCA DEL CIELO

WHY HERE?

cosmic field

RESTAURA NT

EX H I B I TI O N H A LL

AUD I TORIUM PATI O S

LO B BY

ZO N I F I C ATI O N

F LU X I N TERCO N N EC TI O N PATIOS EX H I B I TI O N H A LL GUEST ROOMS

NATURE INTERPRETATION CENTER Conceived for the vast landscape of the Salar de Uyuni, this project explores an elevated reflective volume as a spatial framework for contemplation. By mirroring the sky and salt flat, the structure reduces its visual impact while reinforcing the perception of infinity. The interior is organized around a central core, with program distributed radially, while slender supports lift the volume from the terrain, preserving continuity between ground and horizon.

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

VESTI B U LE

FIRST FLOOR

DAYTIME EXP E R I E NC E Human Scales Illustrations from Akira Kusaka

FLOOR LEVEL

NI G H TI M E E X P E R I E NC E Human Scales Illustrations from Akira Kusaka

AI-CONCEPT EXPLORATION

03 DESIGN RESEARCH AI EXPLORATION

REIMAGINING SPATIAL FUTURES PRIGMA began as a space to experiment with new tools outside academic and professional structures. It was created to test ideas freely and explore how spatial thinking could evolve through AI. Over time, it expanded into a broader investigation of space, image, and atmosphere. Influenced by photography, fashion, and contemporary art, the project studies how architecture can shift between physical form and visual narrative.

The results take shape as immersive images that suggest alternative environments, expanded scales, and new material possibilities. Each study opens a different scenario, using technology as a medium to expand imagination.

CONTINUED EXPLORATION

SALAR DE UYUNI - INFINITY - TIM WALKER

A continuation of “Cerca del Cielo”, this study translates the logic of the salt flat into transluscent volumes and suspended forms. The landscape becomes a stage for scale distortion and visual illusion, where light, reflection, and atmosphere reshape spatial perception.

FAÇADE - MOVEMENT- IRIS VAN HERPEN

URBAN EXPLORATION

This study explores façade interventions derived from textile behavior.

Flexible membranes are shaped into translucent layers that introduce movement while allowing light to filter through the building envelope.

INTERIOR EXPLORATION

INTERIORS - IMMERSION - YAYOI KUSAMA

This interior study explores immersive environments generated through repetition and scale distortion. Inspired by Yayoi Kusama’s obsessive pattern language, dotted surfaces extend from walls to ceiling, dissolving spatial boundaries. The Dalmatian becomes a living continuation of the pattern, where spots and architecture merge into a single immersive field.

BORDO RESILIENTE IN COLLABORATION WITH ANDREA TORRES AND PAOLA GONZÁLEZ ROLE: CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT, SPATIAL STRATEGY, DRAWINGS AND VISUALIZATION

04 URBAN SYSTEMS Waste Reframing Resilient Infrastructure

RECLAIMING THE EDGE | Urban Regeneration Through Waste Infrastructure This project reimagines a former waste disposal site in Nezahualcóyotl as a catalyst for urban resilience. Located in the eastern periphery of Mexico City, the site embodies the spatial and social consequences of infrastructural neglect and uneven development.

Rather than treating waste as a terminal condition, the proposal reframes it as latent infrastructure capable of generating public space, ecological repair, and social activation. The intervention transforms landfill territory into productive landscapes and community programs that reconnect the urban fabric to a historically marginalized edge.

By integrating environmental remediation with civic life, the project proposes a new relationship between city and waste, positioning resilience not as recovery, but as a strategy for long-term regeneration and spatial equity.

4

2

PA RQU E D E L BO R D E , BO R D O D E XO C H I AC A Nezahualcóyotl, Mexico City, Mexico

1

PROPOSED MASTER PLAN

3

COMPOST CENTER

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

1

3

MARKET

2

CO M M UNIT Y FR A M E WO R K Program within “Parque del Borde”

SOCIAL RECREATION CENTER

4

SPORTS COMPLEX

LOCA L MA RKET

VISUAL REPRESENTATION & MODEL

MATERIAL STUDIES | Cultivation Modules

Resin casts encapsulate plant matter, representing the agricultural cycles integrated within the landfill regeneration strategy. The pieces explore preservation, transparency, and layered growth as spatial metaphors.

ORCHA RD Cultivation Area

SKINHEAD: A CURATED INTERIOR

05 IDENTITY MEMORY SPATIAL NARRATIVE

SUBCULTURES | A Curated Space for Skinhead Identity A museographic study of subcultural identity, translating archival imagery, music, and graphic language into an immersive spatial environment.

FLUX CITY

06 Urban Systems SPECIES OF SPACES

PIONEERING URBAN FLOWS A systems-driven exploration of urban mobility, reimagining intersections as adaptive organisms. By reorganizing circulation into layered networks, the project positions infrastructure as a catalyst for spatial order and urban coherence.

DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION

07 Architectural Representation Visual Narratives

CHUEY HOUSE | Envisioning Architectural Artistry A digital reinterpretation of modernist architecture, translating photography into layered color and atmosphere.

PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIES

08 Light and Texture VISUAL TRANSLATION

MARIANA YAMPOLSKY | A Photographic Homage An investigation of light as structure and texture as form, engaging Yampolsky’s compositional sensibility.

THANK YOU connecting the dots DIANA ISIS HERNÁNDEZ MÁRMOL

P E RSO NA L A RC H I V E Vienna, January 2026

All the images and plans shown in this portfolio are confidential and may not be used for other purposes.