Conscious Design Observatory | Co-Designed Places

March 22, 2025 – 3:00 pm
UK
11:00 am
EST
4:00 pm
CET
8:30 pm
IST
1:30 am (March 23)
ACST
Online
Event Recordings

The 2025 Conscious Cities Festival marks the launch of a new CCD Event Series: The Observatory!

The Observatory showcases built projects that exemplify Conscious Design Principles in order to share knowledge, experience, and inspiration. In this first event of the series we will be joined by three incredible speakers who will share their experiences of leveraging co-design in their projects, offering real-world examples of reconnecting with place through agency and collaboration.

Participants

Office for the New Earth (ONE) is a Design & Construct foundation dedicated to creating therapeutic spaces where children can play, feel safe, and reconnect with themselves. Their approach emphasizes local teamwork, design for well-being, and biophilic design principles.

Sensing Local is a Bangalore-based urban living lab that focuses on improving urban systems through data-driven design and community engagement. They work on projects related to air quality, water management, and urban planning, aiming to create sustainable and livable cities by collaborating with local communities and stakeholders.

Zuloark is a distributed open office specializing in architecture, urbanism, and culture, founded in 2001 in Madrid. Operating in cities like Madrid, Berlin, and Athens, they engage in diverse activities, including architectural design, tactical urbanism, cultural heritage projects, and construction workshops.

Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with these three incredible teams and to learn about their work, while gaining a new grasp on co-design methods for urban, building and playground projects.

Hosted by

Organised by

Michaël Vrijhof is an architectural engineer, humanitarian, artist, and co-founder of the non-profit Office for the New Earth (ONE), an organization dedicated to designing and constructing Healing Spaces for children.

Throughout his career and studies, Michaël has developed a strong focus on the physiological and psychological impact that spaces have on our well-being. Drawing from neuro-aesthetics, environmental psychology, and biophilic design, he has developed a holistic framework about the embodied needs we share universally as humans in relation to our environment. As a result, his design approach is fueled by sets of evidence-based principles on how to meet embodied needs with architectural ingredients.

As part of Office for the New Earth, Michaël has led efforts in designing and building therapeutic Healing Spaces for children in distressed situations, such as those in refugee camps. These communal environments are carefully crafted to support their emotional and developmental needs, helping them feel safe, relaxed, and inspired. By fostering a space that nurtures curiosity and imagination, these structures allow children to heal and grow, despite the challenging circumstances.

Juan is representing Zuloark at the Conscious Design Observatory.

Zuloark is a distributed open office specializing in architecture, urbanism, and culture, founded in 2001 in Madrid. Operating in cities like Madrid, Berlin, and Athens, they engage in diverse activities, including architectural design, tactical urbanism, cultural heritage projects, and construction workshops.

Sobia Rafiq is an Urban Development Professional with over ten years of working in the environmental and planning space. She co-founded Sensing Local in 2016, a Bengaluru-based Urban Living Lab that applies an evidence-based systems approach to urban planning through participatory planning and design. She has anchored several innovative projects in Sustainable Mobility, Waste Management, Public Space Design, Water Management, and Governance; and worked with a wide range of stakeholders.