diff --git a/delete_space.m b/delete_space.m
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..ea50397f73f9b17c7fe3d2bbfefe22a7cb4c57ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/delete_space.m
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+function delete_space(code, reason)
+% DELETE_SPACE
+% Delete space in the openBIS instance. A reason has to be specified.
+
+global obi
+
+% test connection
+test_connection(obi)
+
+space = obi.get_space(code);
+space.delete(reason);
+
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/get_spaces.m b/get_spaces.m
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..f0b95d58010fe1d3200e5daab788f63e0a24d166
--- /dev/null
+++ b/get_spaces.m
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+function spaces = get_spaces
+% GET_SPACES
+% Get a list of all available spaces (DataFrame object). To create a sample or a 
+% dataset, you need to specify in which space it should live.
+
+global obi
+
+% test connection
+test_connection(obi)
+
+spaces = obi.get_spaces();
+
+spaces = df_to_table(spaces.df);
+
+end
diff --git a/new_space.m b/new_space.m
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..7d45dd1359ee4c78d8dd52ff98649e6f2a33a1fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/new_space.m
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+function new_space(code, description)
+% NEW_SPACE
+% Creates a new space in the openBIS instance.
+
+global obi
+
+% test connection
+test_connection(obi)
+
+space = obi.new_space(pyargs('code',  code, 'description', description));
+space.save;
+
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pybis_example.ipynb b/pybis_example.ipynb
index ad001d3d1a8f6ec4ac565cc9300a7b8fed6042f6..c76b9da10629d58a2d271dcedee187e3c4ff15fe 100644
--- a/pybis_example.ipynb
+++ b/pybis_example.ipynb
@@ -372,6 +372,57 @@
     "ds.get_files(start_folder='original')"
    ]
   },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": 11,
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "space = o.get_space('MATLAB_TEST')"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": 12,
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [
+    {
+     "data": {
+      "text/html": [
+       "\n",
+       "            <table border=\"1\" class=\"dataframe\">\n",
+       "            <thead>\n",
+       "                <tr style=\"text-align: right;\">\n",
+       "                <th>attribute</th>\n",
+       "                <th>value</th>\n",
+       "                </tr>\n",
+       "            </thead>\n",
+       "            <tbody>\n",
+       "        <tr> <td>code</td> <td>MATLAB_TEST</td> </tr><tr> <td>permId</td> <td>MATLAB_TEST</td> </tr><tr> <td>description</td> <td>test space for Matlab access to openBIS</td> </tr><tr> <td>registrator</td> <td>hluetcke</td> </tr><tr> <td>registrationDate</td> <td>2018-08-17 10:39:05</td> </tr><tr> <td>modificationDate</td> <td>2018-08-17 10:39:05</td> </tr>\n",
+       "            </tbody>\n",
+       "            </table>\n",
+       "        "
+      ],
+      "text/plain": [
+       "attribute         value\n",
+       "----------------  ---------------------------------------\n",
+       "code              MATLAB_TEST\n",
+       "permId            MATLAB_TEST\n",
+       "description       test space for Matlab access to openBIS\n",
+       "registrator       hluetcke\n",
+       "registrationDate  2018-08-17 10:39:05\n",
+       "modificationDate  2018-08-17 10:39:05"
+      ]
+     },
+     "execution_count": 12,
+     "metadata": {},
+     "output_type": "execute_result"
+    }
+   ],
+   "source": [
+    "space.delete"
+   ]
+  },
   {
    "cell_type": "markdown",
    "metadata": {},