This issue highlights the designers who use their craft to make powerful statements against systemic inequality, as our editor in chief Floor Kuitert explains.
In my ten plus years at FRAME – and throughout its existence – FRAME has deliberately avoided political commentary, with the occasional column taking a more critical tone. In general, our focus has always been on spatial design, and we judge spaces by their design credentials. Over time, however, these credentials have come to encompass increasingly complex and charged project attributes – ones that are inherently linked to broader societal shifts, expectations and sentiments. To name but a few: Sustainability is inseparable from governance; wellbeing is indivisible from the welfare state; and inclusivity is inextricably linked to social hierarchy.
In addition, and because of our global scope, the (messed up) state of the world has sparked more than one discussion about what projects – from where and by whom – should or shouldn’t be published. Which visions are we indirectly supporting? And what knowledge and information do we lack to make truly informed decisions? Complex questions that made us realize that creative practice is never neutral. It’s a realization shared by some of the studios featured in this issue. In our Ones to Watch section, London-based collective Urban Radicals explains why it sees design as inherently political, firmly believing that design is often a reflection of contemporary thought, writing, ideology and the state of democracy. Sharing the O2W spotlight, Spanish studio Hanghar explains that interiors are ‘shaped by and reflect the social, political and economic systems that define our built environment’. Founder Eduardo Mediero says that ‘the design of domestic spaces in particular can reflect wider power structures and economic hierarchies’ and that ‘in most market-driven housing models, the interior is organized according to capitalist principles of ownership and profit’. As such, designing interiors that reject market-driven norms and resist financialization can be a form of political resistance.
What also became clear in making this issue is that if we, as design media, are here to support creative practice, we have an opportunity to consciously give a platform to those who want to make the world a better place. And to those who, through their practice, ensure that the voices of the oppressed and marginalized are not only heard but lead to visible and meaningful results. Case in point is London-based POoR Collective, which believes there’s power in what young people have to say, yet they’re rarely consulted in the design of the city. Through co-design and community engagement, POoR is working to bridge this gap, with a consistent focus on delivering tangible results on the ground. As well as young people, the underrepresented groups and unheard voices consulted for the projects featured on the following pages include refugees, colonized communities, older adults, women, trans and non-binary individuals, non-human species and more.
As we state on our cover: Design can be a force for systemic change, a form of protest against outdated regulations that impede progress. If you ask the designers and architects who share their visions in this edition of FRAME, there are many systems in desperate need of an overhaul. Education, for one. Architect-activist Zarith Pineda of Territorial Empathy, whose words will stay with you, proactively challenges systems – both societal and within the fields of architecture, design and urbanism – that reinforce entrenched prejudices and stifle the ambitions of emerging design talent. ‘I studied architecture hoping to build beauty and sanctuary,’ she says. ‘But what I found was an industry plagued by God complexes, elitism and a severe lack of intersectionality. The curriculum romanticizes form over function, theory over equity. It trains architects to ignore the systems they’re embedded in: redlining, settler colonialism and environmental racism.’
My colleague Kayla Dowling could not have put it more poignantly: ‘At a time when designing to perpetuate inequality is as active a choice as designing for justice, all designers have to choose: to be agents of progress or upholders of the status quo.’ This issue argues for the former – in a just, ethical and activist way.
Get your copy of FRAME 162now.
