APPARATA
London, United Kingdom
APPARATA is an architecture, design, and research studio that creates convivial and adaptable spaces and objects. They work foundationally with how material, environmental, and social realms are enmeshed and interact, addressing questions around social bonds, repair, dematerialization, altering typologies, and agency. Their work has won awards including the RIBA Neave Brown Award for Housing and a Civic Trust Award, and has been nominated for the Stirling Prize, the European Collective Housing Award, and the Royal Academy Dorfman Prize. Their projects and writing have been widely disseminated, including in The Guardian, Süddeutsche Zeitung, the Whitechapel Gallery, and the Venice Architecture Biennale. APPARATA works internationally. The studio was founded by Astrid Smitham and Nicholas Lobo Brennan. Smitham is a German-British architect and guest professor at TU Vienna University. Lobo Brennan is a British-Brazilian designer and associate professor at Kingston School of Art, London.
2025 Biennial Project
Project Overview
A House for Artists
A House for Artists, the first of its kind in the United Kingdom, is an ambitious model for affordable and sustainable housing tied to long-term public engagement. It provides a flexible living and work space for fourteen artists and their families. In exchange for reduced rent, the artists deliver free creative programs for the neighborhood in the ground-floor community hall, shaped in dialogue with the community.
This project was made possible with funding from the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan.
Venue
View moreChicago Cultural Center
Address
78 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL 60602
Neighborhood
The Loop
Description
Completed in 1897 as Chicago’s first central library, the building was established as the Chicago Cultural Center, the nation’s first and most comprehensive free municipal cultural venue, in 1991. One of the most visited attractions in Chicago, the stunning landmark building is home to two magnificent stained-glass domes, as well as free art exhibitions, performances, tours, lectures, family activities, music, and more – presented by the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) and many others.
