Through juxtaposition and typological acrobatics we divorce ourselves from ownership and create a form of urban collage that revels in the mess of reality rather than attempting to control it.
Think Tank Leaders - Paolo Vimercati, Associate Principal, Grimshaw Architects. Petra Havelska, Director, Marko & Placemakers. Igor Marko, Director, Marko & Placemakers
The Unstable City Students - Dawa Pratten, Phelan Heinsohn, Oscar Hårleman, Duncan McNaughton, Aleks Stojakovic, Alaric Campbell-Garratt, Fearghal Moran
Supporting Practices Grimshaw Architects - Marko & Placemakers, Citizens Design Bureau, Alma-nac, AHMM, Studio Egret West & Scott Brownrigg.
Instability is the natural state of the city; a certainty, influencing all underlying systems of governance and structure. Instability is good, powerful, not a menace to be conquered - through it, we are afforded all forms of opportunity. Stability is oversimplifying, desired particularly when viewing the city as a corporate opportunity. Pursuing stability is a point of disconnect with reality. The stable city is a generic city.
We are a think-tank within the London School Of Architecture. We propose a world where: resilient ecosystems point towards better futures, collective participation and ownership create meaningful identities, citizen groups employ re-purposed developer models, community owned economic structures are possible, placemaking replaces commercially driven form making. We are attune to the collaged, transient nature of city-making. We embrace instability, disavowing the flawed commercial model of fixed, rigid masterplanning, allowing contrary actors and actions to speak together. Through the collaging of complex and contradictory propositions and fragmented ideas.
