UN Innovation Space

Interior Design | 3D Design
This proposal was a response to an RFP put out by the UN DPPA Innovation Cell for establishing the first-ever innovation space to advance collaboration, brainstorming, and prototyping. It is a concept for a multi-purpose space that suits the three primary functions described in the RFP: a Meeting Room, a Workshop, a Showroom.

The space was designed to be highly transformable, accommodate digitally driven meeting formats, adapt to various degrees of formality, and encourage innovation, creativity, interdisciplinary experimentation, and prototyping.

The concept draws upon a mix of custom-designed and fabricated features (built-in cabinetry, a ceiling-mounted rail system for moveable whiteboards, mobile dry-erase tables and charging stations, modular storage carts, a green wall, and other furnishings) in addition to the latest technologies that can facilitate augmented and virtual reality demos, data visualization, satellite imagery analysis as well as big data analytics.


A. Meeting Room Layouts
B. Workshop Layouts
C. Showroom Layouts



Maria Alexia Platia is a Greek multidisciplinary designer based in Brooklyn, New York. With a Communications Design MFA from the Pratt Institute and an Industrial Design BFA from RISD, Maria Alexia operates at the intersection of the physical and the digital. Her work revolves around building objects, spaces, systems, and narratives as means of storytelling, provocation, and creating immersive experiences.

2024; Pratt Graduate Show, La MaMa Galleria, Bowery, NY
2024; Other Islands Bookfair, Brooklyn, NY
2023; Pratt Thesis Inquiries Exhibition, Brooklyn, NY
2023; Furnishing Utopia: Public Access, NYCxDesign, HeadHi Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2023; Sympoiesis: Forging a Collective Cosmovision, AES NYC Gallery, SoHo, NY
2022; What is the Shape of Innovation? United Nations: World Creativity and Innovation Week, UN Secretariat Building, NY
2017; Our America, German Gallery, Providence, RI
2017; RISD Industrial Design Senior Show,  Woods-Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI
2016; RISD Industrial Design Triennial, Woods-Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI