Places are poetic. They grow and change, influenced and inspired by the bodies inhabiting them.
Because of this, our work is interactive. It is made to be approached, touched, shaped by nature and the forces engaging with it.
Actions transform our sculptures, triggering light, sound and echoes. Rain, wind, sunlight and each phenomena create a new landscape of performative responses.
In this way, we make the works, but they are completed by the forces they come into contact with. This creates a symbiosis between art and its environment.
STUDIO︎
Maetherea {Matter + Ethereal}
Maetherea is a multidisciplinary practice based in London, founded in 2018 and directed by Cristina Morbi. The studio operates internationally at the intersection of landscape architecture and public art. It combines time-based design with natural and artificial phenomena to create spaces that evolve over time. The projects are guided by ecological principles, considering the relationships among all living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment.
we draw inspiration from a multidisciplinary perspective, merging rituals with perception and interactive installations triggered by nature. These rituals are developed through community engagement processes, manifesting as events and performances that foster deeper connections to the space. In this way, we create performative environments where the landscape acts as a theatre and nature plays the role of the actor. By proposing the fourth dimension of time as a crucial element in the public realm, we design time-based iconic structures and art installations that encourage interaction between humans and nature, continuously adapting to new scenarios.
Our installations and landscape architectures serve as ecological and phenological devices, becoming tools for exploring and engaging with the environment. We believe that urban spaces and public art should not be viewed as a series of isolated objects but rather as a choreography of performances that intertwine sculptural perception with experiential design. In this way, we focus on the narrative, uncovering the story behind a place and discovering new and creative ways to celebrate it.
Maetherea is a multidisciplinary practice based in London, founded in 2018 and directed by Cristina Morbi. The studio operates internationally at the intersection of landscape architecture and public art. It combines time-based design with natural and artificial phenomena to create spaces that evolve over time. The projects are guided by ecological principles, considering the relationships among all living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment.
we draw inspiration from a multidisciplinary perspective, merging rituals with perception and interactive installations triggered by nature. These rituals are developed through community engagement processes, manifesting as events and performances that foster deeper connections to the space. In this way, we create performative environments where the landscape acts as a theatre and nature plays the role of the actor. By proposing the fourth dimension of time as a crucial element in the public realm, we design time-based iconic structures and art installations that encourage interaction between humans and nature, continuously adapting to new scenarios.
Our installations and landscape architectures serve as ecological and phenological devices, becoming tools for exploring and engaging with the environment. We believe that urban spaces and public art should not be viewed as a series of isolated objects but rather as a choreography of performances that intertwine sculptural perception with experiential design. In this way, we focus on the narrative, uncovering the story behind a place and discovering new and creative ways to celebrate it.
PEOPLE︎
Cristina Morbi - Director
Cristina Morbi is a London-based artist, landscape and architectural designer, and researcher working for the public realm, with a focus on site-specific landscape architecture, environmental design and public art. Since 2012, she has been creating iconic landscapes and installations in the UK and abroad.
Exploring performative processes and phenology in landscape architecture, she founded Maetherea in 2018, a studio-manifesto that brings together design, art and research, working on the poetic aspect of unpredictability and performative landscapes. Morbi leads all projects from concept to construction, developing bespoke narratives, designs and material experiments.
Her research and work explores landscapes through time-based design, focusing on the relationship between natural and artificial agents and questioning the lifespan of design and how it merges with its environment. Her research explores matter as a performative agent that grows, changes and dissolves. She has forged the concept of ‘Design Phenology’(2019), where time becomes an instrument to explore and design the landscape: ‘Landscape architecture is not a sequence of objects but rather a choreography of performances.’
She affiliates with universities in London and Milan, as a lecturer at The Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL), leading Architecture Unit 7 MEng, and from 2018 to 2023 she was Visiting Professor at Politecnico di Milano – School of Design and at London Metropolitan University – School of Art, Architecture and Design leading MA Design for Change. Morbi exhibited Lithic Chords, her monumenal interactive installation, at the Venice Biennale of Architecture 2025 and ephemeral masonry at the CUBE in London, Centre for Urban and Built Environments.
Cristina Morbi is a London-based artist, landscape and architectural designer, and researcher working for the public realm, with a focus on site-specific landscape architecture, environmental design and public art. Since 2012, she has been creating iconic landscapes and installations in the UK and abroad.
Exploring performative processes and phenology in landscape architecture, she founded Maetherea in 2018, a studio-manifesto that brings together design, art and research, working on the poetic aspect of unpredictability and performative landscapes. Morbi leads all projects from concept to construction, developing bespoke narratives, designs and material experiments.
Her research and work explores landscapes through time-based design, focusing on the relationship between natural and artificial agents and questioning the lifespan of design and how it merges with its environment. Her research explores matter as a performative agent that grows, changes and dissolves. She has forged the concept of ‘Design Phenology’(2019), where time becomes an instrument to explore and design the landscape: ‘Landscape architecture is not a sequence of objects but rather a choreography of performances.’
She affiliates with universities in London and Milan, as a lecturer at The Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL), leading Architecture Unit 7 MEng, and from 2018 to 2023 she was Visiting Professor at Politecnico di Milano – School of Design and at London Metropolitan University – School of Art, Architecture and Design leading MA Design for Change. Morbi exhibited Lithic Chords, her monumenal interactive installation, at the Venice Biennale of Architecture 2025 and ephemeral masonry at the CUBE in London, Centre for Urban and Built Environments.
Collaborators:
Kristina Chan - Photographer
Kristina Chan is a London based Artist and Print Maker. her works are a culmination and accumulation into site specific history to depict socio-cultural entropic narratives. They explore the correlation between architecture and sculptural landscapes of derelict and disused spaces. She is interested in sites where the intersection between function and intention have fallen into decline and disrepair, where untold histories recount themselves, in all their brevity, satire, beauty, and collapse. Kristina collaborates with the studio capturing the work with her photography.
Patricia Stadler - Horticulture
Patricia Stadler is a horticulturalist trained at the Botanic Horticultural Diploma at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. With hands-on experience at Chelsea Physic Garden and Fulham Palace Trust, she specializes in seasonal planting and native species, sustainable horticulture, and botanical knowledge. Her work focuses on creating dynamic, site-responsive planting scheme that evolve through the seasons, enhancing biodiversity and ecological interest.
Jean-Baptiste Roux - Head of Data and BD
Roux is a London based head of Database and Business development, working on strategies and benchmarking, unifying Art and Tech. He is the creator of the Database of Performances, developing the know-how of Maetherea. Jean-Baptiste is trained in the Business School of UIBE, in France and China. He is passionate about the creative worlds and works on tech-art platforms, Artlogic and Aucart
Kristina Chan - Photographer
Kristina Chan is a London based Artist and Print Maker. her works are a culmination and accumulation into site specific history to depict socio-cultural entropic narratives. They explore the correlation between architecture and sculptural landscapes of derelict and disused spaces. She is interested in sites where the intersection between function and intention have fallen into decline and disrepair, where untold histories recount themselves, in all their brevity, satire, beauty, and collapse. Kristina collaborates with the studio capturing the work with her photography.
Patricia Stadler - Horticulture
Patricia Stadler is a horticulturalist trained at the Botanic Horticultural Diploma at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. With hands-on experience at Chelsea Physic Garden and Fulham Palace Trust, she specializes in seasonal planting and native species, sustainable horticulture, and botanical knowledge. Her work focuses on creating dynamic, site-responsive planting scheme that evolve through the seasons, enhancing biodiversity and ecological interest.
Jean-Baptiste Roux - Head of Data and BD
Roux is a London based head of Database and Business development, working on strategies and benchmarking, unifying Art and Tech. He is the creator of the Database of Performances, developing the know-how of Maetherea. Jean-Baptiste is trained in the Business School of UIBE, in France and China. He is passionate about the creative worlds and works on tech-art platforms, Artlogic and Aucart
Past Collaborators:
Aurora Destro, Davide Maruelli, Giorgia Mazzetti, Cristina Brena, Lola Artilles San-Juan, Beliz Gurmen, Alessandro Grossi, Gabriela Menghiris, Robert Stefanescu
Aurora Destro, Davide Maruelli, Giorgia Mazzetti, Cristina Brena, Lola Artilles San-Juan, Beliz Gurmen, Alessandro Grossi, Gabriela Menghiris, Robert Stefanescu