actLAB is a collaborative studio working at the intersection of ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN, RESEARCH and SOCIAL ADVOCACY.  We design thoughtful and tactile bespoke projects ranging from residences, work environments, flexible spaces and community places. From our studio in Brooklyn, we work globally with design commissions in New York City, Australia and the Philippines.

actLAB was founded in 2013 by Aya Maceda, a Filipino-Australian architect and professor at Parsons School of Design. Aya is a M.S. Advanced Architectural Design graduate and former faculty of Columbia University GSAPP. She has served as a guest critic at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Columbia GSAPP, Parsons SCE and University of Technology, Sydney. She is a registered architect in  Australia and brings with her extensive professional experience from prestigious practices in Sydney, Singapore and the Philippines specializing in the conceptualization to realization of complex, award-winning residential and institutional projects that enhance the public domain (from highly-detailed single dwellings to dense residential projects, public libraries and a university building).  Aya is a recipient of the following awards: the Percival and Naomi Goodman Fellowship for social work in architecture from Columbia GSAPP; the Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Memorial Prize for design excellence from Columbia GSAPP and the Westfield Fellowship for Technology from the American Australian Association.