About

Studio Petteni is a Portland-based practice that merges research, engagement, and design to help address the social-environmental needs of historically marginalized communities in Oregon and worldwide. The firm is built upon Marta's decade-long experience at the intersection of design justice, post-disaster scenarios, climate change, and community resilience, and is in the advancement of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.

Marta Petteni

Marta is an Italian licensed Architect, educator, and activist. While running her practice, she is also the Co-Director & Project Manager of the AfroFuturism Oasis project, an innovative proposal aimed at converting retiring MAX Trains into safe and healing spaces for Portland’s Black and Brown communities. She has been awarded the 2024 Van Evera Bailey Fellowship from the Architecture Foundation of Oregon to expand this work.

Prior to joining AfroVillage, Marta has worked at Equity Researcher at Opsis Architecture (2021-2023), and as Designer at Portland State University’s Center for Public Interest Design and the Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative (2017-2021).

Since 2015, Marta has worked on a variety of research and design-build projects in Italy, Spain, Ecuador, Fiji, and the United States, covering various roles – as a team member of for-profit and nonprofit organizations, as an independent consultant, as an adjunct professor at Portland State University, and as visiting professor at the University of Oregon.

She is fluent in Italian, English, and Spanish. She loves traveling to different places, meeting new cultures, immersing herself in nature and eating a tasty lasagna plate when at home.

Honors | Awards | Grants

2024 • Van Evera Bailey Fellowship 2024, $25,000 awarded, Architecture Foundation of Oregon, Oregon (USA) 

2024 • Portland Clean Energy (PCEF) Implementation Grant, $1,950,516 awarded, Portland  (USA). Principal Investigator for AfroVillage PDX

2024 • METRO Placemaking Grant, $21,000 awarded, Metro Regional Government, Portland (USA). Principal Investigator for AfroVillage PDX

2022 • Oregon Health Authority (OHA) Grant, $346,500 awarded, Portland (USA). Co-Author for AfroVillage PDX

2021 • Portland Clean Energy (PCEF) Planning Grant, $98,500 awarded, Portland  (USA). Principal Investigator for AfroVillage PDX

2021 • The Community Engagement Research Academy (CERA) Grant, $5,000 awarded, Portland State University,  Portland (USA). Co-author

2020 • METRO Placemaking Grant, $20,000 awarded, Metro Regional Government, Portland (USA). Principal Investigator for AfroVillage PDX

2020 • MAX Cars Reuse Competition, First Prize, organized by Trimet, Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, and PSU’s Center for

Public Interest Design. Portland (USA)

2019 • Transformative Climate Communities Grant, $23 million awarded, California Strategic Growth Council, Sacramento (USA). Team member

2018                • International SEED Award 2018, First Prize, Singapore, December 2018. 

2016                • Sentieri Creativi, First Prize Award, 1,500 euros, Bergamo (Italy) 

2016                • Master Thesis Abroad Award, 3,600 euros, Politecnico of Milan, Milan (Italy), April 2016.