Lorena Espaillat Bencosme wins Space Syntax dissertation award

Lorena Espaillat Bencosme has been awarded the 2017 prize for best dissertation in the MSc Space Syntax: Architecture and Cities programme. Lorena’s research ‘The Social Dimensions of Collaboration in Co-Working Spaces’ was developed under the supervision of Dr Kerstin Sailer.

In her dissertation, Lorena explores the growing phenomenon of co-working spaces in London. By performing analytical models of observed behaviour, her research investigates the potential for collaboration between independent yet co-located workers.

Lorena’s work was praised in particular for developing an original methodology for studying co-working spaces, which combined space syntax with social networks analysis (SNA). Her work challenges the idea that integration is needed for interaction and raises new questions for the study of complex buildings.

About the Space Syntax Turner Prize

The Space Syntax Turner Prize was created in 2011 in memory of Alastair Turner, whose work made a profound impact in the realm of space syntax research and teaching. The prize is funded by the design consultancy Spacelab and the Dean’s List.

Image: Network of all visibility relationships emerging from the seating plan of a co-working space.