Kamilla Csegzi
FOUNDER
New York City
Harsha Nalwaya
Architecture & Ecosystems
Architect. Designer. Thinker. I graduated from GSAPP with a Master of Science degree in Advanced Architectural Design in 2014. My design and research interests lie in exploring existing networks to find design solutions. I’m interested in ecosystems. I believe, metaphorically, intellectually and spiritually, that we are a network of living and nonliving things that makes a whole wherein the whole depends on the tiny and the tiny depends on the whole. To sustain this network we need to maintain this delicate balance and therein lies the most successful design solution. In Gloria Steinem’s words “we are linked not ranked”
Miranda Vukasovic
Design & Performance Art
Beijing / Zagreb
impulse to constantly move has always been stirring quietly inside her.Her life has in some ways been defined by the meaning of her name. When read in Spanish and split in two; “MIRAR” to look, and “ANDAR” to go, MIRA/ANDA begins to form a meaning of passing through. She has moved continuously, settling briefly in Zagreb, Milano, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Mexico City, London, New York and now Beijing, passing through thousands of destination in between.
Miranda has been working in the field of architecture, design and communication for over 8 years. She has extensive experience in project design and production under her belt, drawing from her collaborations with a wide range of design studios across Europe and America. Her passion for architecture has led her to work within the field in a variety of scopes. Some of her most memorable experiences include working with Renzo Piano Building Workshop www.rpbw.com as an exhibition designer and curator.
Sima Shahverdi
Sima is a multi-disciplinary designer at the intersection of kinetic architecture, industrial design, robotics and animation. Her goal is to enhance the human being’s life experience through integration of robotics into built environments. She seeks novel innovative applications of industrial robotics.
Elaine Kwong
Collective Forms
Los Angeles / Hong Kong
Elaine Kwong is a Chinese-American Architect and Urban Designer. She is Co-Founder of Desakota LLC. Elaine graduated in 2017 with a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard University, where her thesis “Incremental Village” was a finalist for Thesis Prize and exhibited at the 2018 Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture. As a Visiting Lecturer at South China University of Technology-School of Architecture, she currently leads a studio series investigating the transformation of Guangdong countryside.
Her work experience with second-tier cities in Asia has lead to her research interest in finding alternative ways of development that enable people to be agents of their environments rather than passive beneficiaries or victims.
Due to technological advancement in communication, peripheral cities such as Targu Mures are experiencing a transformation in both the consciousness of the collective and physical form of the built environment. Attention is quickly shifting away from well-renowned “megacities” to the thousands of second and third tier cities, creating a new design opportunity to be involved in facilitating their inevitable growth towards a more equitable, sustainable and open city. Collective Constellation platform enables a cross-pollination of interdisciplinary ideas and skills that is ideal for productive and effective cultural exchange.
‘Due to technological advancement in communication, peripheral cities such are experiencing a transformation in both the consciousness of the collective and physical form of the built environment.’
Bika Rebek
Physical & Digital Platforms
Bika Rebek is the principal of Some Place, a design studio located in New York City and Vienna focusing on architecture and exhibitions, with the mission to create public facing projects.
Bika is a Knight Foundation fellow at the NEW INC, the first museum-led incubator, where she is developing a collaborative digital platform for exhibition design named Tools for Show.
An avid supporter and mentor of young architects, she sits on the advisory board of the Future Architecture Platform, a Pan-European platform of architecture museums, festivals and producers. Bika has been teaching at Columbia GSAPP since 2015.
Agustin Schang
Cultural Production
New York City
Agustin Schang is an architect and independent cultural producer based in New York where he manages and programs the GSAPP Incubator, a launch pad for new ideas and projects about architecture, culture, and the city, an initiative from Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP) in association with NEW INC; New Museum’s Incubator. He studied architecture at the Universidad de Buenos Aires and graduated in 2015 from the masters in Critical, Curatorial and Conceptual Practices in Architecture at Columbia University (GSAPP) with a thesis on archives and architecture. Since 2003, he had collaborated in multiple art, architecture, and cultural projects with prestigious institutions as Columbia GSAPP; New Museum’s Ideas City; Friends of the High Line; Emily Harvey Foundation; Centro de Cultura Contemporánea de Barcelona; Fundación Proa; and Ministerio de Cultura de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires among others. He recently was the associate producer of The Mile -Long Opera, a citywide public engagement project, which brought together 1,000 singers from across New York for free performances on the High Line; a project conceived by Diller, Scofidio, + Renfro in association with Friends of the High Line.
Marcelo Lopez Dinardi
Architecture and Political Economy
New York City / Puerto Rico
Marcelo López-Dinardi is an immigrant, researcher and educator interested in the various scales of design, in the practice of architecture as research, and the intersection of architecture and political economy. He is an Assistant Professor of architecture at Texas A&M University. As Partner of A(n) Office was selected to represent the United States Pavilion in the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale and later selected as a Fellow for Ideas City Athens and Arles, and event organized by New York City’s New Museum. Has written for Avery Review, The Architect’s Newspaper, Entorno, Domus, Planning Perspectives, Art Forum China, and lectured at Cooper Union, Princeton University, RISD among others. He completed a Bachelor in Architecture from the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico (2003) and a MS in Critical, Curatorial and Conceptual Practices for architecture (2013) from the GSAPP at Columbia University.
‘Collective Constellations opens the possibility of intersectional collaboration conscious of local and global networks, something becoming more critical when trying to have impact in a hyperconnected world.’
Iulia Toader
Philosophy and Theory of Art
Paris
Currently preparing my PhD thesis in philosophy and theory of art, I also teach history of art at the University of Amiens. A decade after leaving my home country for my studies at Sorbonne Université in Paris, I am keen to participate in projects that create transnational, as well as transdisciplinary bridges between different fields and institutions in academic research and artistic education. In my own research, I have been navigating between anthropology, history of art, far-eastern studies and philosophy. I believe that developing transversality rather than micro-specialisation and more generally, having a broad perspective, is essential to building relevant and new knowledge.
‘I believe that developing transversality rather than micro-specialization and more generally, having a broad perspective, is essential to building relevant and new knowledge.’
Xiaoxi Chen Laurent
Global & Local Infrastructures
New York City
Xiaoxi Chen Laurent is an architect and designer in NYC, currently designing objects and spaces for exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She was trained at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, & Preservation at Columbia University, where she sometimes teaches. Her research interests include how structural frameworks of cultural production intersect at multiple and simultaneous scales. She was awarded the SOM Travel Research Fellowship in 2015.
Her research interests include how structural frameworks of cultural production intersect at multiple and simultaneous scales.
Jeffrey Montes
Space Architect
I am a Space architect, which means I design places for people to live in places where it is not possible to live. My ideal design problem involves a technical system governed by engineering constraints and my professional pleasure comes from finding "cracks" in that system that I can split open and enter as an artist, a designer, an architect. I consider the artifacts we send to Space some of the most significant for our species and the fact that I design occupy-able artifacts allows me to fold in much broader questions about the cosmos, time and human nature. I believe in visionary design from first principles. For my day to day work reality is stranger, and more beautiful, than fiction.
‘I consider the artifacts we send to Space some of the most significant for our species and the fact that I design occupy-able artifacts allows me to fold in much broader questions about the cosmos, time and human nature. I believe in visionary design from first principles.’
‘Working across scales and across disciplines can create positive change and lasting impacts within communities. Through the lens of activism, Nans defines his approach to design as being research driven, site-specific and community focused.’
Nans Voron
Ecological Urbanism
NYC / Paris
Nans Voron is an Architect and Urban Designer, he brings his cross-disciplinary experience in the fields of urban design, architecture, and graphic design to design projects of all scales.
Nans is currently working in New York at SCAPE, he holds both a Bachelor and a Master of Architecture from the National Superior School of Architecture Paris-Val-de-Seine; he is a licensed Architect in France where he received the Tony Garnier Urban Design Award from the Academy of Architecture. Nans also holds a Master of Science in Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia University. At Columbia, he was awarded with the Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Memorial Prize, the school’s highest design award, and won the GSAPP Prize for Excellence in the Urban Design Program. At Columbia, Nans holds the position of adjunct assistant professor for the Urban Design Program.
Amy Shell
Urban Design & Community Engagement
NYC
Amy Shell, Co-Founder of Common Projects Newburgh, is a New York licensed architect and urban designer. With a focus on multi-scalar analysis and place-based design, Amy’s form of activist practice combines critical and imaginative experimentation to address social equity, public infrastructure, and critical climate issues of the 21st century.
Amy holds a Master of Science in Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia University, where she received the Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Memorial Prize and the William Kinne Fellows Prize. She also earned a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Oklahoma, where she was awarded the Outstanding Achievement in Architecture and the Outstanding Senior in the College of Architecture.
Since 2017, Amy has served as a board member and Co-Design Director for the East Northeast International Film Festival in Newburgh, New York. Amy's past experience includes Associate in Architecture and a Teaching Fellowship at Columbia University GSAPP, research for the Legacy Cities Partnership, the design of a women's residence for a New York City institution, and the design of the Edison Cinemabox, a mobile dual-purpose pavilion and theatre.
Razvan Voroneanu
Urban Design & Community Engagement
Razvan Voroneanu is the Co-Founder of Common Projects Newburgh, a design initiative established to advance an equitable and sustainable future for the Hudson Valley region, and the Design Director of Studio Link-Arc, a New York-based practice specializing in cultural and civic architecture. An architect and urban designer with over fifteen years of experience, his work as design-lead includes museums, public libraries, theaters, educational facilities, as well as urban design projects. Razvan has taught architecture and urban design at Miami University, the University of North Carolina, Kennesaw State University, and Syracuse University. He serves as a board member and Co-Design Director for the East Northeast International Film Festival in Newburgh, New York.
Razvan holds a Master in Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia University, where he was awarded the Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Prize and the William Kinne Fellows Prize. Prior to that, he studied architecture at the Technical University of Iasi, Romania; Universita degli Studi di Napoli, as a Tempus fellow; and later at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he received the AIA Henry Adams Medal, the AIA Ohio Foundation Award, and the Rudolph Frankel Memorial Award for design excellence.
Orosz Márta
Journalism & Political Economy
Berlin
I am a journalist born in Targu-Mures and currently living in Berlin.
I am interested in setting up projects in Targu-Mures that strengthen local communities, empower diversity and create more transparency.
I was born and went to school in Targu-Mures and later on studied in Budapest and in Leipzig. I am currently working as a journalist for an investigative newsroom in Berlin, Germany, mostly on economic and social issues. I often collaborate on projects with journalists and newsrooms in Romania – also because so many issues people are confronted with are the same in Targu-Mures as in Berlin: pollution, corruption or social inequality. When I´m not on the road for an investigation, I do occasional journalist trainings and speak at public events on media issues. Apart from journalism, I am interested in finding ways of communication between polarized groups and engaging in environment and climate protection.
‘I am interested in setting up projects in Targu-Mures that strengthen local communities, empower diversity and create more transparency.’
Ben de Lange
Architecture & Sustainability
Beijing / Rotterdam
SUPERIMPOSE is a creative architecture studio based in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. The studio’s focus lies on applying problem solving tactics to physical and non-physical contextual complexities, resulting in strategic, well-balanced, sustainable, community-centred, and bold design solutions.
‘Superimpose’ is not only the office name, it also reflects a contextually aware design methodology, collaborative attitude, mixed team structure and knowledge sharing mentality. Superimpose’s design scope covers architecture, urban planning, interior and installation design.
The practice has grown into a boutique-size firm with fifteen employees since early 2016. Projects such as Micr-O Hangzhou, the Re-veil Changzhi, and the WELL Living Lab Beijing are built examples of the ‘Superimpose’ design philosophy.
Ben obtained his MSc – with distinction - at the Delft University of Technology and is a registered architect (ARB). Ben worked at award winning practices such as Spark Architects in Beijing, Mei Architects and 24H Architects in Rotterdam and has over twenty-five built projects.
Sabine Valenga
Food and the Networked City
Brazil / NYC
I’m a Brazilian architect turned food-tech entrepreneur after becoming aware of the environmental impact food represents, and realizing how design can actively contribute to its solutions in many different ways: from rethinking how our food systems operate to creating compelling narratives and products for people to take action on it.
After finishing my masters degree from Columbia GSAPP, practicing, and teaching architecture, I co-founded Food for All: an app making possible for users to buy and pick up fresh surplus meals from restaurants and cafés for a highly discounted price. Based in Boston, I’m currently the UX/UI designer and Chief Marketing Officer.
Since we started, I keep getting amazed by facing the complexity of the systems and processes that feed and shape our cities.
Understanding at a local level how economies, policies, media, technology, and design interact to support the way food is produced and consumed is an important task if we want to improve our cities - which is why I’m excited to join such a collaborative and interdisciplinary group in this think tank!
‘The SPHERA initiative sparkled my desire to join team of motivated multidisciplinary professionals with the common goal of identifying local challenges and developing unique inclusive urban and architectural design solutions for Transylvania.’
Oficina Aberta
Research and Practice
Brazil & Lebanon
Anahid Zarig Simitian and Bruno Nakaguma Gondo are co-founders of Oficina Aberta, an architecture and design practice based in São Paulo and Beirut. Projects are tackled with a multidisciplinary approach to architecture, urban planning, landscape and industrial design. Oficina Aberta’s projects include educational institutions, social housing, and research on the built environment in Brazil and Lebanon. The firm recently won an architectural competition to design and construct the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism (FAU) of the Federal University of Juiz de For a (UFJF) and received the GSAPP Incubator Prize on their research proposal of Crop Wild Relatives in the Fertile Crescent.
Simina Dron &
Raul Ardelean
Architecture
Bucharest
DAAA (Dron and Ardelean Architects) is a studio based in Bucharest, focused both on architecture and design (interior, graphic and object design). Founded by architects Simina Dron and Raul Ardelean, the studio approaches each kind of project with the same passion and concern that the two architects share for simplicity, expressivity and functionality.
DAAA is interested in joining a multidisciplinary collective of artists, designers, and scientists that are going to search and deliver local answers for a specific place and city which can evolve and be developed in general solutions that can only be generated by different fields working together.
‘DAAA is interested in joining a multidisciplinary collective of artists, designers, and scientists that are going to search and deliver local answers for a specific place and city which can evolve and be developed in general solutions that can only be generated by different fields working together.’
Quintus Kropholler
Business and Design
Toronto / Amsterdam
Quintus is a creative generator and multi-disciplinairy designer, with a strong business mind.
In his design work, Quintus is mostly drawn to reimagining the norm, and shifting paradigms. He sees a strong responsibility as a designer to create transforming the audience’s/users’ perspective and perception of our surrounding - wether material, or theoretical.
This is based on the idea that in order to change our lives, our planet, we need not to think about solutions as fractions, but as a whole. Therefor, a holistic approach is necessary, with a tangible result, in order to impact.
His process is always hands-on. Design thinking through actual Design practice, and starts to get excited when something cant be done. Material gesture is central to his view on Architecture and design. Shape or form has a significant submissive role in all this, usually forming from the coming together of function and concept with an accent on material consciousness and immersive experience.
Filipa Castelão & João Ferreira
Hospitality & Design
Lisbon
Filipa graduated as an Architect from Universidade Lusíada de Lisboa in 2008. João majored Economics at ISCTE / Lisbon in 2006.
Filipa and João met in Beijing in 2011. She was working as an Architect for International office located in Beijing realizing how Emerging Markets answer and reshape Architecture Innovations of Global Firms. João was responsible for distribution of the number one Portuguese Olive Oil Company in China, Korea and Japan.
In 2014, they moved to Lisbon, Portugal after a career break of 8 months discovering and getting inspired by the roads, colors and people of Southwest Asia and South America. They wanted to do something different. Portugal was leaving a big crisis and the situation demanded them to be creative in order to succeed in their areas and passions.
For João, Ramen was an obsession for 15 years since the first time he visited Japan. Opening a Ramen Restaurant in Lisbon seemed a crazy dream… as no ramen shops existed in the city . With the support of Filipa after 3 years and half they opened a signature restaurant aiming the best ramen in town.
Filipa’s passion is architecture and design. During last years she was working in unique installations and renovations ultimately standing in Portuguese architecture scene. At the same time, they decide to buy and renovate an old family country house in the middle of Portugal and convert it in a Countryside hotel where the detail and bucolic landscapes inspire travelers.
We love new ideas and being involved with “collective constellations” to achieve/explore new designs, leavings, services could be something very innovative and interesting with extreme added value.
‘In order to change our lives, our planet, we need not to think about solutions as fractions, but as a whole. Therefore, a holistic approach is necessary, with a tangible result, in order to impact.’
Elena Polearuș
Journalism
Targu Mures
With a love for words and everything creative, I have always wanted to write and express myself in a stimulating way. After being a Project Manager for a long time and toying with IT, this inner desire guided me to being a journalist for a local daily newspaper and a local events website.
What I have discovered by doing this is not only my passion coming to life. I have discovered a city that is not dead like I and so many others had the mistake of thinking. A city that thrives with interesting passionate people who are either already doing something good for it or are looking for an outlet to show everything they can do. A city with so many possibilities, chances, industries and multiculturalism that only those who aren’t willing to work and struggle enough fail to grasp and benefit from its potential.
Târgu-Mureș is a perfect canvas with strong basis that awaits to be moulded by great people that know its priorities. Not only I want to be one of them, but I want to show others how it’s possible and promote everything good about this city.
Târgu-Mureș is a perfect canvas with strong basis that awaits to be moulded by great people that know its priorities.
Knitknot
Participatory Design
Knitknot architecture is an international collective based in New York, Los Angeles, London and Paris. Founded in 2013, Knitknot has developed projects across different mediums and scales Knitknot members combine practice with academia. We have taught and conducted research in Columbia GSAPP and Pratt Institute in New York, Princeton SoA in New Jersey, USC Los Angeles, the Bartlett in London and Akademie der Künste in Berlin. Our work has been published in magazines such as AVProyectos, Revista PLOT, MONU, Public Journal Design+Humanity and POST.
‘Through the design and construction of educational buildings, playgrounds, and domestic spaces, our collective practice tries to recover the value of the act of building to mobilize social consciousness. We explore cooperative forms of labor, such as community-building; and participatory techniques that seek direct engagement with local actors.’
Maria Lozano
Hospitality & Design
NYC / Madrid
TheDreamLab was founded by Maria Lozano in 2018, as a platform to explore how the crossover of all design disciplines can push further the field. With a background in architecture, interior design and branding design, our lab has been focusing on XXS scale as a way to investigate and develop new concepts. We are interested on connecting architecture and design, in all its possible variations.
‘Collective Constellations opens up an opportunity to work collaboratively with a diverse group of designers and investigate together how branding and small-scale design can change entire communities.’
Alexandra Georgescu
Architecture and Practice
Brno, Czech Republic
Born Romanian, raised Italian, I graduated with a Dutch Interior Architecture education degree and had my most relevant work experience in China. I am currently running my own Architecture and Interior Design firm in the Czech Republic, as well as two other companies, one related to Real Estate called Social Reactor, and one Design Festival, Brno Design Days.
At KOGAA, my architecture practice, we develop projects from concept designing to construction, following projects all the way till the end. We started with a very hands-on approach, reconstructing an old factory by ourselves and learning the process on our own.
At Social Reactor we focus on what happens after architecture, which is the living content of buildings, the actual functions related to the tenants and long-term visions for the facility.
Finally, the Design Festival I created brings people together to share their practice and start new projects together, as well as educating the public on the need for designers in everyday life.
Keeping my work connected in diverse fields keeps me always aware of the bigger picture, and on how things are connected and how they can benefit from one another.
I am a firm believer in collaborations, amongst colleagues, with clients, with stakeholders, Governmental Bodies, and with the people who make projects come to life.
Tudor Cosmatu
Computational Design
Bucharest / Delft
I am an experienced Architectural Designer with a focus on corporate architecture and computational design. Since my graduation at DIA (Dessau, Germany) i have been involved in research projects and various international competitions ranging from pavilions to museums and artist residences.
For the research project developed at TU Delft I have been in charge of the design and fabrication of an innovative adaptive robotically 3D printed trombe wall, exploring the boundaries of additive manufacturing and the relationship between scale and thermal effect of geometric operations. The final 1:1 prototype has been exhibited at the 2018 Venice Architectural Biennale.
I have been involved in organizing and tutoring numerous digital design and fabrication workshops in conjunction with local educational institutions using these as incubators for ideas related to automation in the building industry and exploring the use of local traditional techniques in this context.
Given my experience in both commercial and educational projects, the SPHERA initiative sparkled my desire to join team of motivated multidisciplinary professionals with the common goal of identifying local challenges and developing unique inclusive urban and architectural design solutions for Transilvania.
Ramona Albert
Architecture & Technologies of Making
New York City
Ramona is the founder of the architecture and construction management practice Ramona Albert Architecture, where she combines over 12 years experience of design and management of over $300M in complex buildings and envelope systems in NYC and globally.
Ramona’s expertise lies in the design and construction of customized architectural assemblies and building envelopes, focused on innovation and customization. With a holistic approach to building, the practice provides a fully integrated approach to architecture, while aiming to push the limits of technology through the use of new materials and building techniques.
Born in Transylvania, Romania, Ramona has moved to the US to study at an early age on her own. She holds a Master of Architecture from the Harvard University School of Design, is a registered architect in the United States, a member of the AIA as well as the Romanian Architectural Union. She is on the board of several organizations, and is active in academia through teaching or lectures. She has taught technology and design at Harvard University and Syracuse University, and has completed work in Eastern Europe, Asia and the United States.
‘We live in a world where speed precedes everything we do. From our forms of socializing, to communication, to building buildings, we are constantly surrounded by the need for faster processes, and we cannot do it alone. We need a strong system, a network of people, skills and processes, that work together sinuously to produce, with the newly needed speed, the ideas that we create.’
Phi Lu
Objects and the City
Beijing
Architectural design is the art of logic, not just the art of form. I care about the function and form, also care about materials, details and construction. Every project for me is a process of asking questions, thinking and researching, taking risks and practicing, while hoping to maintain the basic sensory experience of life, and find the witty and interesting moments hidden in our life. Design is not fantasy, but ultimately projected into life and construction activities, such as pottery burning, woodworking, bamboo basket weaving, they are inseparable from life and construction.
‘Understanding at a local level how economies, policies, media, technology, and design interact to support the way food is produced and consumed is an important task if we want to improve our cities - which is why I’m excited to join such a collaborative and interdisciplinary group in this think tank!’
Filippos Filippidis
Architecture & Computational Design
London
I am an architect and computational designer from Greece currently living in London. I am part of the Creative Technologies team at Bryden Wood Technology, one half of DataFormLab and teach at Manchester University in the MArch CPU Atelier. My interests lie in using complexity frameworks to develop digital tools and computational thinking that can work across scales and create dialogues between design, technology, culture and the environment. Being part of Sphera and a multi-disciplinary collective is a great opportunity to test new boundaries with like minded individuals questioning the norm and develop innovative ideas and prototypes specific to Targu Mures which will provide the context for these initiatives.
‘Being part of Sphera and a multi-disciplinary collective is a great opportunity to test new boundaries with like minded individuals questioning the norm and develop innovative ideas and prototypes specific to Targu Mures which will provide the context for these initiatives.’
András Ferencz
Apps, Photography & Branding
Targu Mures
I am a young Entrepreneur and Photographer based in Transylvania, Romania. I am the founder of Affarit Studio, which is a full web service company. My main point of view of the world is “Do What You Can’t”. There were always things that I wanted to try or to discover, but there were always walls that tried to help me. So If you work hard enough to catch your dreams, everything is possible even if you are in Targu Mures or in San Francisco. I love to travel and to combine all the fields of Social Media, Graphic Design, Programming and Photography.
Irina Bogdan
Interactive Design
Berlin
My path as a designer and an architect started in 2004, the year I began my studies at the University of Architecture and Urbanism “Ion Mincu” in Bucharest. Four years later i had the chance to explore and experiment new notions of spatial design during the one year master course program, immersed in the interdisciplinary medium offered by the Dessau Institute of Architecture - Bauhaus, Germany. Every step that followed, revealed new conceptual and formal subtleties that lead to explorations and new collaborations in the field of digital design and computer aided fabrication. A deep fascination for the seemingly infinite sensorial investigations drove me to the field of interactive design.
I currently live in Berlin and i am collaborating with Studio Tomás Saraceno.
‘I am thriving for future interdisciplinary collaborations with artists, local artisans, scientists, dancers, choreographers, scenographers and creative people from all fields in order to create spaces of interaction and unforeseen ventures.’
Thomas Ibrahim
Architecture as Social Experiment
Georgia / USA
As an architect and researcher, Ibrahim’s focus is identity and ideology and their implications on the built environment. In 2017 he initiated the project INHABIT! post-Soviet Tbilisi, which has been focused on the appropriation of ideologically-charged Soviet Modern buildings in Georgia for experimental social and educational public uses. Ibrahim is joining Collective Constellations to contribute to the dialogue about shaping public spaces and institutions by substantiating local identities.
‘Through the design and construction of educational buildings, playgrounds, and domestic spaces, our collective practice tries to recover the value of the act of building to mobilize social consciousness.’
Pedro Sunyé
Architecture
Brazil
Pedro Sunyé, 30 yo, co-founder and architect at y arquitetos, a young architectural practice based in Curitiba, Brazil. Along with architecture, their production focus in the development of spatial identity for people and brands. One good example is the design for Leo Moço’s coffee bar where the same traditional red floor from where his coffee grows, is used to identify the local shops throughout Brazil.
Pedro also worked for the last 8 years as urban designer at Jaime Lerner Arquitetos Associados in projects for new cities and to reshape existent ones oriented by those places singularity.