In recent years, GSAPP has used the label “Studio-X” to refer to its most advanced laboratories for exploring the future of cities. The label conveys the sense that a whole new platform for research and debate is needed to face the array of urgent questions that will face the next generation of designers.

Studio-X is a place for new forms of creativity in the face of the most pressing problems. A place to invent, test and celebrate new ideas. A lively hub of the most exciting discussions. An incubator of energetic thinking in the heart of the city. An interface for direct exchanges between colleagues from around the world. A dynamic space that evolves at the same speed as the urban environment itself.

The global network of Studio-X spaces that we are building is a new kind of international workshop in which the best minds from Columbia University can think together with the best minds in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia. Each Studio-X is located in the liveliest part of the historic downtown of a leadership city at the heart of a major region of the world. The first Studio-X was set up as a pilot project in downtown Manhattan two years ago. It established a decisive reputation for innovation through its dense program of research projects, exhibitions, competitions, workshops, publications, performances, and debates attracting exciting minds from all fields. Equally dynamic Studio-X spaces in downtown Beijing, Amman and Mumbai followed. A beautiful Studio-X space in the heart of Rio de Janeiro is now being established and plans for Moscow are being completed. Studio-X is not a typical university branch aiming to export leadership education and research around the globe. On the opposite, our colleagues around the world are the leaders in a cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary, and cross-continental exchange within and between diverse regions. Those regions undergoing the most radical transformation have the most to teach us about the future of cities. The continuous flow of exciting ideas and people between these sister Studio-X spaces turns the simple idea of an open collaborative studio into an unprecedented global network aimed at the brightest possible future.

Each Studio-X is organized around the traditional setting of the design studio found in architecture schools all over the world: a simple open loft-like space that fosters collaborative exploration, an empty room that welcomes new people and new ideas.

Each Studio-X is organized around the traditional setting of the design studio found in architecture schools all over the world: a simple open loft-like space that fosters collaborative exploration, an empty room that welcomes new people and new ideas.

The organization of the open space keeps changing as an array of tables, chairs, computers, and screens is rearranged depending on which teams are using it and which events are taking place.

This central workspace is supplemented by: a book gallery and reading room that displays unique research publications from around the different Studio-X locations not found in a typical bookstore; an interactive video interface showing what is happening in the other Studio-X spaces in real time; a gallery space displaying unique exhibitions curated locally or between Studio-X spaces; a space for public lectures; a meeting room for more private discussions or video-conferencing; a kitchen/coffee shop; and offices for the staff or visiting scholars/designers.

Each Studio-X is a cultural center that supports close personal interactions between people that might not normally be together. At the same time, the space is equipped with the latest technology to take advantage of Columbia’s expertise in digital design and data visualization to draw on the widest array of global resources and communicate ideas to the widest possible audience. The local director of each Studio-X acts as the curator of a continuous array of projects, workshops, lectures, seminars, symposia, exhibitions, and performances with a small staff helping to tie the daily operations of the space to the surrounding city. In key moments, all the Studio-X spaces would be linked in a single real-time global workshop allowing unprecedented bursts of creativity.

Mission

Each Studio-X is a new kind of cultural space in the city

Bringing together the worlds of architecture, design, art, planning, preservation, construction, media, business, education, and research

A special relationship with local artists: visual, multi-media, installation, performance, music, literature

Not tied to any existing institution

A neutral space in the heart of the city

Fostering a whole new kind of conversation about the future of our cities, countries, regions, and the globe

Incubating and supporting new forms of creativity

Not a school, think-tank, gallery, performance space, communication center, or office–but elements of all

Studio-X is an open flexible work area with exhibition space, book gallery, lecture space, meeting space, some offices and a serious espresso machine

During the day: a collaborative workspace, with diverse teams from the city, the region, and the globe working on designs, research, art works, reports, books, magazines, exhibitions, media, websites...

During the evening: a space of passionate discussion, with lectures, debates, seminars, meetings, book launches, music performances, exhibition openings…

A hot spot, buzzing with social energy, invention, and dedication to a better future

A space for fresh explorative thinking

Welcoming all groups from the most radical artists to the largest corporations

A cultural space that belongs to the city, representing its most passionate, urgent needs and celebrating its unique strengths

Deep friendship and collaboration with local schools, cultural organizations, think-tanks, business, government, and foundations

Concentrating and communicating the wisdom of the city, the country and the continent

Celebrating local issues and expertise within a global network of similar Studio-X creative spaces

Leadership cities in leadership regions exchanging ideas in an unprecedented synergy of expertise and inventiveness

The first truly networked global think-tank devoted to real-time engagement with the future of the world’s built environment

New bridges of creativity between continents

Allowing the world to learn from the world