Speak! Listen! Act! A kaleidoscope of architectural elements for public space

Speak! Listen! Act!
A kaleidoscope of architectural elements for public space
20 projects by Zenovia Toloudi and students

September 20 - November 13, 2016
Opening reception at 5:45pm
Strauss Gallery, Hopkins Center
 

About

Public space has been vital to people and cities since ancient times as the designated space for dialogue, participation, collective activities, interaction and exchange, and essentially democracy. However, due to various social, political, and economic complexities, as well as technological advancements, public space has gradually transformed to less open, less democratic, less comfortable, less enjoyable, less “ours.” From one hand, codes, policies, and regulations reinforce limited use and accessibility, uncomfortable surfaces and furniture, and ubiquitous surveillance. From the other hand, the web culture has absorbed much of the dialogue and participatory practices that now occur more often in the digital realm. Public space is essentially not so “public” and not so “spatial.”

Speak! Listen! Act! exhibition and research presents a taxonomy of projects at the intersection of architecture, art, and urbanism, investigating how design can act as agency to instigate or reinforce for the public a series of actions, such as communication, interaction, collaboration, playfulness, and empathy. Speak! Listen! Act! projects emphasize the presence of adaptive structures, the actualization of tectonics of democratization, and the materialization of playful micro-tectures.