Workshops + Projects
TORONTO. CANADA. 2023
Media Architecture Biennale
Building the City of Trust
In collaboration with Bruce Mau Design and UN Sx
How do you build the City of Trust? We started by exploring vocabularies of fear and trust in public spaces, moving into posing critical challenges in the city, from safety on public transport to cultural gentrification of neighbourhoods. Using those vocabularies of trust, an international roster of researchers, media artists and architects then moved onto building new worlds and creating alternative stories for these places to tackle these real world challenges.
Exploring concepts like the Drag Queen Police Station, the Euphoric Subway and the Hippie Robots, to counter challenging scenarios of safety on public transport, houselessness, cultural gentrification and AI takeover. What emerged?
Fun fights Fear
Exploring the queer city and anti-anxiety transport systems, a sense of colour and celebration brings brightness, light and positivity.
Vitality as the Counterpoint to Control
Bringing life, energy and movement in all forms — with a role for media and nature to create living spaces. How do you make a safe space for these players to evolve over time?
What’s the Marshmallow?
Riffing off a Montreal tradition of civic bonfires and marshmallow toasting in the winter, encouraging strangers to get talking. What’s the marshmallow that gives us an excuse to celebrate with people we don’t know yet?
Expression is everything
Being able to express a true sense of identity in a space is a real sign of trust. If more people feel freer to do so, would we all feel more secure and welcome?
LONDON. UK. 2022
Shortlisted for London Festival of Architecture
Designing equity in the public realm
In collaboration with Nebbia Works
Imagine a stage which young people could use to exercise their agency, among other groups, freely expressing their ideas of place, power and identity among their city. Could we create a forum in which ideas of public space could prototyped and published in real time, amplifying the voices of an underrepresented demographic?
CODE SWITCH is an Urban Lexicons process that equips local young people with the means to imaginatively flip the script and have a part of city adapt to them, rather than the other way around. How can young people’s voices switch the code of this place? This concept explores questions of identity and its connection to place, and how we as young people shift that depending on where we are and who we’re with.
Giving visual voice to young people by working with free AI enabled text to image tools to open the imagination; Making use of existing infrastructure within the city; Encouraging the city to ‘code switch’ how it speaks about urban futures.
BILBAO. BASQUE COUNTRY. 2022
In collaboration with Design Research Society
and Central Saint Martins
Collaborating with design researchers to explore 'Welcome' and 'Unwelcome' and 'Familiar' and 'Spectacular' character of Bilbao, unpacking local identity, both Basque and that of multicultural neighbourhoods. Exploring percpetions of the city, and how the city speaks back through ideas for spectacular and welcoming interventions.
Exploring digital and analog tools for capturing perceptions of city culture, and how the city speaks back
THAMESMEAD. LONDON, UK. 2022
Central Saint Martins, MA Cities
Collaborating with MA Cities students and local guides to explore the 'Wild + Free' character of Thamesmead, South East London. Creating a 48 Hour Lexicon through a 'walk and talk' process of exploring the neighbourhood, debating what we found, and imagining the identity for the distant future.
48 Hour Visual Dictionary
BRISTOL. UK. 2022
Collaboration with Ling Tan + Superpowers
Collaborating with Design Technologist Ling Tan and residents at Easton Community Centre to gather perceptions from local multicultural communities and reimagine the space to represent multiple identities.
EUSTON. LONDON, UK. 2022
Central Saint Martins, T Factor
Collaborating with this HORIZON 2020 funded project to develop public spaces with local people around Euston and Regents Park Estate.