About Us

De Manera Isleña is a community-centered interdisciplinary spatial practice working at the intersection of architecture, ecology, cultural preservation, public art, research, and social practice. Through design, storytelling, advocacy, and collective action, the practice examines how communities shape — and are shaped by — the social, political, environmental, and historical conditions of place.

We approach space not only as physical infrastructure, but as a living archive of memory, labor, migration, resistance, and everyday cultural life. The practice works closely with community organizations, artists, educators, activists, and local residents to support projects that emerge from situated knowledge and collective stewardship.

Its work spans community design processes, temporary public installations, exhibition and narrative design, architectural research, cultural programming, preservation advocacy, participatory workshops, and visual documentation. Across scales, the studio is interested in how spatial interventions can support reciprocal relationships between people, land, history, and public life — particularly in places shaped by extraction, displacement, climate vulnerability, and colonial legacies.

De Manera Isleña understands design as both a cultural and political act: one capable of amplifying overlooked histories, strengthening social infrastructure, and creating new forms of public imagination. Rather than treating communities as audiences or stakeholders, the practice centers long-term collaboration, shared authorship, and processes of collective learning.

Recent and ongoing work includes collaborations with grassroots organizations, educational institutions, public agencies, and cultural initiatives across Puerto Rico and New York City, focusing on themes of environmental justice, memory, migration, public space, and community self-determination.