Join us for an evening with Space Popular, the innovative design studio renowned for their exploration of architecture, virtual environments, and storytelling.

This talk highlights the innovative work of Space Popular, the practice of Lara Lesmes and Fredrik Hellberg, known for bridging the physical and digital worlds to redefine how we experience and interact with our environments.

Their talk will be followed by a panel discussion with close collaborator Shumi Bose to discuss Fables for Our Time, the new commission that has transformed the museum's iconic tri-wall display—previously Designer Maker User—into a new platform for imaginative storytelling and contemporary discourse on the climate emergency. 

Space Popular

Lara Lesmes and Fredrik Hellberg founded Space Popular in 2013 in Bangkok; an architecture studio that explores the relationships between media and the built environment through research, design and artworks. The studio has realised buildings, exhibitions, public artworks, furniture collections, and interiors in Asia and Europe, as well as virtual architecture for the immersive web.

Lesmes and Hellberg have been Visiting Professors at UCLA AUD in Los Angeles for the past three years and have previously held academic positions at 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 Centre 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 Werkstatt, London, UK.

Shumi Bose

Shumi Bose is chief editor at KoozArch. She is an educator, curator and editor in the field of architecture and architectural history. Shumi is a Senior Lecturer in architectural history at Central Saint Martins and also teaches at the Royal College of Art, the Architectural Association and the School of Architecture at Syracuse University in London. She has curated widely, including exhibitions at the Venice Biennale of Architecture, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 2020 she founded Holdspace, a digital platform for extracurricular discussions in architectural education, and currently serves as trustee for the Architecture Foundation.