Marieke Kums (1979) studied at the MIT in Boston and at Delft University of Technology from which she received her MSc Arch degree cum laude. In 2010 she founded STUDIO MAKS in Rotterdam.
STUDIO MAKS is an international design office that aims to create new environments for all kinds of people, at every imaginable scale; from urban regions to cities, from buildings to art installations. The studio develops projects that engage culture and consciousness, nature and artificiality, surrealism and pragmatism. The studio has worked on projects in the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, etc.
With STUDIO MAKS Marieke was nominated for the Prix de Rome and has won numerous international awards including the Young Talent Award by the Dutch Fund of Architecture & Visual Arts, the Agrob Buchtal Newcomer Award and several prizes in international design competitions.
Before she founded her own office Marieke worked with SANAA / Kazuyo Sejima; Ruye Nishizawa in Tokyo. Marieke has been invited as a visiting lecturer and external critic at various architecture schools and institutions, such as the TU Delft, Yokohama GSA and Harvard GSD. For the past 4 years Marieke was part of the advisory board of the Dutch Creative Industries Fund.