Talk 2

Nicolay Boyadjiev is an architect, strategist and educator working between Montreal and Moscow. He is currently a Faculty and the Program Design & Education tutor at Strelka Institute. He co-curates and co-runs the experimental postgraduate education program of the institute, currently planned as a cumulative 3-year “speculative urbanism think-tank” over 3 cycles until 2022. Each cycle, the program hosts an interdisciplinary and international cohort of 30 researchers for a 5-month immersive, led in short intense bursts by visiting various faculties from around the world and culminating in original design-research provocations in the form of cinematic outcomes, written proposals and design decks. He co-runs The Terraforming: a postgraduate interdisciplinary design-research think-tank developing work at the intersection of ecological governance, planetary urbanisation, and critical design theory. The Terraforming is directed by design theorist Benjamin Bratton and is premised on an investigation of the terraforming that has already taken place on Earth over the last century/millennia over the course of urbanisation (“the climate change we now have”), to the terraforming that must now be planned and conducted as a planetary design initiative of the next century if true catastrophes are to be prevented (“the climate change we now need”). Pragmatically, the program explores the implications of this proposition for design practice and urbanism at planetary scale. Boyadjiev is also a co-editor of the forthcoming book The New Normal (2020), a comprehensive record of the projects, processes and insights developed during the previous design-research cycle at Strelka designed to explore and prototype new models for urban design practice combining software, cinema, strategy, and planning. He lectures regularly at various institutions across Europe and North America, and is a visiting academic faculty at IAAC in Barcelona (Masters of City and Technology) and KADK in Copenhagen (Masters in Urbanism and Societal Change). Nicolay holds a Masters of Architecture from McGill University and prior to joining Strelka has worked at internationally renowned design offices ranging from boutique experimental studios to larger architecture firms.

Ella is currently the Course Leader for the MA Design for Social Innovation and Sustainable Futures at London College of Communication. In 2018/2019 Ella was also a research resident at the V&A looking at the strategic role of design thinking inside cultural and educational institutions. While at the V&A as a research resident Ella developed the Collective Design School where she is experimenting with models of collectivism inside formal and informal design learning. This was opened within the V&A over September 2019 and saw over a hundred people come together to un-design and re-design creative learning. Prior to this Ella worked with Tec de Monterrey in Mexico establishing a social innovation lab between communities in Querétaro and the local school of architecture and design. During her time in Mexico Ella supported students and community networks to develop two social enterprises in central Mexico: one looking to improve conditions for artisans living and working in rural Mexico; and one looking at democratising art and design education for people who could not afford a university education. In the UK Ella has led the Knee High Design Challenge with the Design Council, working in collaboration with Southwark and Lambeth Councils on system reform to tackle health inequalities for young children and their families. She was also a social design consultant with Thinkpublic where she led public service re-design programmes within local authorities, charities and the NHS. Ella has also worked to support young creative and cultural networks across the world with the support of the British Council.

ITCILO is the training arm of the International Labour Organization.The International Training Centre is an advanced technical and vocational training institution in the heart of a riverside park in Turin, Italy. Founded in 1964 by the International Labour Organization and the Government of Italy, the Centre’s mission is to achieve decent work for all women and men.The Centre is dedicated to the pursuit of learning and training to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 8: “Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment, and decent work for all.”The Centre offers learning, knowledge-sharing, and institutional capacity-building programmes for governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations, and development partners. It aims to be a forum where development intersects with all forms of knowledge in the world of work, from tripartism to technology. As a multicultural hub for learning, the Centre welcomes everyone, regardless of gender, race, or class.