studio: indegenous

Chris Cornelius is a citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, and Professor of Architecture at the University of New Mexico. He is the founding principal of studio:indigenous and creates artifacts that dismantle stereotypes surrounding Indigenous design and offer a distinct vision of contemporary Indigenous culture.

In 2025, Chris was inducted into the National Academy of Design. Cornelius’ other honors include multiple Best of Design and Best of Practice Awards from the Architect’s Newspaper, an Architizer A+ award, and the Miller Prize from Exhibit Columbus. His work has been exhibited at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale and the 2023 Chicago Architecture Biennial. His drawings are in the permanent collections of MoMA in New York, and SFMOMA in San Francisco. Cornelius has been the Dean’s Visiting Professor at Columbia and was the Spring 2025 Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor at Yale University.

La Cabina de la Curiosidad

La Cabina de la Curiosidad began with the idea of exploring thoughts, researching material resources, and reflecting on and questioning models of urban development. Its practice seeks to sustain culture through ethnographic and architectural practices, raise awareness about human waste, value natural ecosystems, and foster solutions for human habitats.

The practice is guided by the philosophical principles of dreaming, bringing joy, sharing, optimizing, and learning. It operates with freedom of action, a playful mind capable of exploring possibilities, humor, and the seriousness required to address fundamental issues. La Cabina de la Curiosidad is interested in creating positive solutions for the common good, where every action contributes to alleviating the burdens placed on the territories in which people live and the environments they impact.

Its methodologies approach contextual knowledge as a starting point for design processes. This includes engaging with diverse communities, undertaking immersive and creative surveys, interpreting territories, working with recycled materials, systematizing processes for efficient construction, incorporating poetic acts to confront life, using clever devices to energize human actions, and maintaining a firm voice in advocating for collective rights.

La Cabina de la Curiosidad is a cabinet of wonders: an all-terrain mobile laboratory encompassing art, craftsmanship, graphic language, publications, books, exhibitions, audio, furniture, architectural design, public and community infrastructures, territorial awareness, landscape remediation, environmental processes, teaching, construction, rehabilitation, and management.

Its trunk holds magic and creativity, brewed from a decoction of experiences: collections of the ordinary; investigations into essences; artifact design; mental formulas; everyday short circuits; coils of immersion; spools of clever devices; the stitching together of ideas; and a dash of poetry.Lesmes and Hellberg are Professors of Architecture at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna (die Angewandte) and have previously held academic positions at UCLA AUD in Los Angeles, the Architectural Association in London, the University of Toronto, and INDA Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. Clients, collaborators and commissioners include national institutions such as MAK — Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria, MAXXI — National Museum of 21st Century Art, Rome, Italy, the Swedish Center for Architecture and Design ArkDes, Stockholm, Sweden, the Royal Institute of British Architects, London, UK, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea, as well as independent galleries such as MAGAZIN, Vienna, Austria, and Sto Workshop, London, UK.

Space Popular

Lara Lesmes and Fredrik Hellberg lead the practice Space Popular; an architecture studio that explores the relationships between media and the built environment through research, design and artworks. The studio has realized buildings, exhibitions, public artworks, furniture collections, and interiors in Asia and Europe, as well as virtual architecture for the immersive internet.

Lesmes and Hellberg are Professors of Architecture at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna (die Angewandte) and have previously held academic positions at UCLA AUD in Los Angeles, the Architectural Association in London, the University of Toronto, and INDA Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. Clients, collaborators and commissioners include national institutions such as MAK — Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria, MAXXI — National Museum of 21st Century Art, Rome, Italy, the Swedish Center for Architecture and Design ArkDes, Stockholm, Sweden, the Royal Institute of British Architects, London, UK, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea, as well as independent galleries such as MAGAZIN, Vienna, Austria, and Sto Workshop, London, UK.

sP+A

sP+a is an interdisciplinary architecture, interiors and urban design studio that engages with India’s diverse socio-cultural contexts through adaptive, context-driven approaches. Each project is shaped by its unique conditions, with context seen as a repository of latent resources linking material practices, production networks, and cultural narratives.

The studio reinterprets traditional techniques by extending them beyond conventional use, allowing them to evolve rather than remain preserved as static artefacts. In doing so, it questions the ‘museumification’ of craft and reconsiders the idea of the ‘regional’ within interconnected global frameworks.

Operating as a hybrid practice, sP+a integrates research, collaboration, and collective models as interdependent streams that enables the studio to reinterpret established typologies and respond to contemporary socio-economic conditions with a methodology rooted in subjectivity and specificity.

Chat Architects

Director of Bangkok-based Chat Architects, Chatpong Chuenrudeemol is an architect deeply impacted by the beauty and ugliness of Bangkok. His projects aim to capture the true essence of his birth city and are rooted in his research of “Bangkok Bastards”- the local live street vernacular often overlooked for their informality, but brimming with architectural invention and cultural authenticity. Chat has led design/research studios on documenting “Bastard Arhitecture” at universities throughout the world, including INDA Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, National University of Singapore, and Harvard Graduate School of Design.

ZAV Architects

ZAV Architects is a Tehran-based studio, with a growing second base in Vancouver, working across architecture, research, and pedagogy since 2006. Rather than beginning with a fixed style or system, the office approaches each project through a close study of ordinary situations. Through the lens of ZAV’s research arm Pishevar, the social, material, and environmental capacities embedded within a place are observed and interpreted. Through architectural orders, these conditions are reorganized into new spatial possibilities. These orders act as playful instructions: open frameworks that allow architectural processes to continue through participation, adaptation, and contribution. Therefore, architectural invention emerges not from a predetermined outcome, but from an unpredictable process of transformation.

This approach grew out of early research into post-war reconstruction in southern Iran (Six Scenarios in Search of an Architect, 1999) and has been developed through two decades of practice. It runs across a diverse body of work, including Pedari Guest House (2011), Habitat for Orphan Girls (2014), Farsh Film Studio (2017), and the Majara Complex and Community Redevelopment on Hormuz Island, winner of the 2025
Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

Kotsiuba Landscape Architecture

KOTSIUBA Landscape Architecture is a Ukrainian practice founded in 2009 by Maksym Kotsiuba and led together with partner and principal Mariia Andriienko. Growing out of the experience of post-Soviet cities, the practice works across public space, heritage-led design, and post-industrial transformation. The studio is drawn to places in need of both physical and cultural healing, and its principals lead every project hands-on, from concept through construction. In 2025, KOTSIUBA received an ASLA Honor Award in Urban Design for UNIT.City in Kyiv.

Kengo Sato

Born in Kanagawa, Japan, in1989. Graduated from the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tokyo. Completed a Master’s degree in Architecture at the Graduate School of Creative Science and Engineering, Waseda University. In 2020, he established Korogaro Association / Kengo Sato Architecture Office. He is the director of “In-Field Studio,” a short-term design school held in India and Japan. He is also a member of “Kanransha,” which maintains indigo fields in Otama Village, Fukushima. He is currently engaged in architectural design and creative activities while commuting between multiple bases in India, Kanagawa, and Fukushima.

Bureau des Mesarchitectures

Born in Chennevières-sur-Marne, France, in 1968, conceptual artist and architect Faustino graduated at the Paris-Villemin School of Architecture in 1995 and started his own practice at the crossroads of art and architecture. Operating with Bureau des Mésarchitectures in Paris and Lisbon, Faustino’s artistic work takes the shape of installations, sculptures, films, and editorial projects, always to transcend borders of society, design, art, and architecture by exploring the relationship between body and space.

Faustino was awarded the Dejean Prize, Silver Medal of the French Academy of Architecture, in 2010, the Pierre Cardin Prize (Architecture) of the Academy of Fine Arts/Institut de France in 2018, and he is one of the 2025 laureates of the French Design 100 award. He is Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters.

Demas Nwoko

Demas Nwoko, OON (b. 1935) born to the royal family in Idumuje-Ugboko, is one of Africa’s most influential architects and cultural strategists, whose pioneering work has helped redefine not just contemporary African architecture through climate-responsive, culturally grounded, and materially expressive design, but has taken the world of architecture into an awakening of cultural identity as the solution to even the most intricate needs and challenges. He is the Founder and Principal of New Culture Designs & Development Centre, an interdisciplinary practice dedicated to architecture, interior architecture, product design, furniture, and culturally responsive development.

A founding member of the Zaria Art Society (Zaria Rebels), Nwoko developed a distinctive design philosophy rooted in African cultural knowledge, environmental responsiveness, craftsmanship, and the creative integration of tradition with contemporary innovation. Although formally trained as a fine artist, his lifelong study of architecture, indigenous building traditions, theatre, and design culminated in an architectural language that anticipated today’s global emphasis on sustainability, locality, and contextual design.

His landmark works—including the Dominican Priory, Ibadan; New Culture Studio and Theatre, Ibadan; Oba Akenzua Cultural Centre, Benin City; the Benedictine Monastery, Ewu; and his residence in his town and place of birth, Idumuje-Ugboko in Delta State —are all internationally recognised for their innovative integration of climate, culture, materials, and craftsmanship. Four of his buildings are featured in 1001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die, while his work has been the subject of the landmark publication The Architecture of Demas Nwoko by John Godwin and Gill Hopwood.

Beyond architecture, Nwoko has made enduring contributions to the visual and performing arts. Following a French Government scholarship to study fresco painting at the École des Beaux-Arts and theatre architecture at the Centre Français du Théâtre in Paris, he returned to Nigeria to become a pioneering lecturer and set designer at the University of Ibadan’s School of Drama. He later wrote, produced, and directed The Children of Paradise, Nigeria’s acclaimed presentation at FESTAC ’77, and founded New Culture: A Review of Contemporary African Arts, one of Nigeria’s most influential cultural publications. His other publications include a comprehensive collection of essays titled Concrete Thinking, and his autobiography – The Happy Little African Prince published in 2022, with more publications on the way.

Through the New Culture Foundation and the New Culture School of Arts & Design, he continues to mentor generations of architects, artists, and designers. In recognition of his exceptional contributions, Nwoko received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2023 International Architectural biennale, La Biennale di Venezia, one of the highest honours in world architecture. He is an Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON), Honorary Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Architects (hFNIA), Fellow of the International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers (IFI), and Patron of the Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA), among numerous other honours and recognitions. His art works has been and still is highly sought after for exhibitions in the most influential museums and institutions around the world.

Through his buildings, artworks, writings, and educational initiatives, Demas Nwoko continues to demonstrate the enduring relevance of African knowledge systems in shaping the future of not just architecture but human existence as a whole.

Clement Blanchet

Clément Blanchet is a French architect, urbanist, teacher, and critic whose work operates across scales, disciplines, and geographies, from furniture and interior design to major public buildings, infrastructure, and large territorial strategies. His practice combines conceptual research with construction, positioning architecture as both a cultural act and a tool for transformation. Clément studied architecture at the AA School of Architecture in London, the Chulalongkorn Mahawitthayalai School of Architecture in Bangkok, and the University of Illinois at Chicago, before graduating with honors from the Versailles School of Architecture. Since 2017, he serves as Chief Architect for the municipality of Annecy.

In May 2014, Clément founded his eponymous practice, Clément Blanchet Architecture (CBA) in Paris, bringing together the vision shaped through more than 20 years around the globe. The studio is conceived as an experimental laboratory, bringing together cultures, disciplines and ideas to research, inform, and generate architecture and urbanism in all their forms. This international outlook is reflected in CBA’s diverse portfolio, which ranges from competitions across the USA, Asia, and Europe to major commissions including a master plan and hotel complex in Tbilisi, Georgia; a new urban district in Shenzhen, China; a coastal development in Tirana, Albania; and a mixed-use complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

In France, the studio has developed a strong focus on educational, civic, and institutional projects. It secured competition victories for the Innovation Campus in Antony and the Carrefour Center for Research and Development in 2017, has advised HEC Paris on urban strategy since 2021, and delivered Istituto Marangoni’s Paris campus in 2024. More recently, CBA is delivering the Bauer Stadium project, won the competition for the rehabilitation of André Wogenscky’s Nanterre Administrative Center, and is leading the transformation of an office building into a new campus in Bordeaux.

Clément developed his craft in 2004 with OMA for a tenure spanning 10 years of collaboration with Rem Koolhaas and then, serving as director, spearheading their French division to great success. Most notably, he has been involved in the construction of the Serpentine Gallery in London (2006) and the design and construction of the Caen Library (2017). He’s also designed and developed award-winning projects, including the Toulouse Exhibition Center (2020) and the Ecole Centrale Engineering School (2018). His work also includes master plans for Saclay and Bordeaux, and the Simone Weil Bridge in Bordeaux, which was delivered in 2024.

Alongside his professional practice, Clément has remained deeply committed to architectural education. He has served as guest critic at schools of architecture across France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, and Sweden. Since 2014, he has been a faculty member at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan, where he continues to engage with the next generation of architects through teaching, research, and critical discourse.

GRACE

Founded in 2016 by Ekaterina Golovatyuk and Giacomo Cantoni, GRACE (www.grace.eu) is an international architecture, research, and design studio based in Milan.

Prior to founding GRACE, Golovatyuk and Cantoni collaborated for many years with OMA/AMO, working on cultural and research projects across Russia, Europe, and Hong Kong. On behalf of OMA, they were directly responsible for the design development and realization of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow, as well as for the development of the educational program for the postgraduate school of Architecture, Media and Design, Strelka, in Moscow. Their work at OMA also included the Novartis Campus, the Hermitage 2014 Masterplan, and the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong.

A substantial part of Grace’s portfolio is dedicated to exhibition design, museum architecture and preservation. The exhibitions, occasionally also curated by Grace, reveal key themes in the bureau’s work, questioning the relationship between the artwork and its context, and the ubiquitous notion of “white cube”. Grace’s design investigates the possibility for new narratives through display, suggesting a more curious and open relationship to history, art, new media, and architecture.

Preservation is a central theme/concern of the offices work, with particular focus on the 20th century heritage. Besides several individual projects in Central Asia, Grace’s current collaboration with Arts and Culture Development Foundation of Uzbekistan, Politecnico di Milano and a group of local and international researchers to revise the legal framework and develop strategies to preserve 24 modernist buildings in Tashkent has let to forming a particular expertise and establishing a critical position on the subject, beyond current ideological and market driven paradigm. The project was translated into a series of exhibitions and a publication by Lars Muller publishers. In 2025, Grace curated the National Pavilion of Uzbekistan at the Venice Biennale of Architecture, dedicating it to one of the modernist buildings near Tashkent, The Sun Institute of Materials Science (big solar furnace).

Golovatyuk occasionally teaches and delivers guest lectures at architecture schools and cultural institutions. Her teaching experience includes the Politecnico di Milano and the Architectural Association in London. She has also lectured at the Triennale Milano, MARCH School of Architecture, the Higher School of Economics (Moscow), the Moscow Architectural Institute (MARKHI), the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design, and the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, among others.

Golovatyuk was part of the Scientific Committee of “Matera 2019” Cultural Capital and has advised private and state cultural institutions in Russia, Central Asia, UK and Italy. She also was involved in several completion juries, including the competition for the new building of the Human Technopole at the former Expo 2015 area of Milan.

Rosa Salon

Rosa Salon is a temporary collective bringing together different practices in architecture, urbanism, research, and education.

Working across questions of politics, climate justice, care, collective action, and spatial transformation, they understand architecture not only as the production of buildings, but as a way of organising relations, resources, knowledge, and possibilities for change.

Based in Braunschweig, Berlin, and Groningen, they are connected through the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture and the City (GTAS) at TU Braunschweig. The institute forms the common ground from which their different practices meet. Rather than operating as a conventional architecture office, Rosa Salon brings these practices into conversation—creating a fleeting space for exchange, collaboration, disagreement, and shared experimentation.

Their work moves between research and practice, teaching and activism, writing and building, institutional contexts and self-organised initiatives. Across these different scales and formats, we are interested in how spatial practice can engage with contested conditions, question existing structures, support collective agency, and open up other ways of living and working together.

Rosa Salon is Sarah Bovelett, Florian Kossak, Hanna Noller, Tatjana Schneider, and Ayat Tarik.