ICON - 206

The Activate issue showcases how architecture and design can be harnessed as a tool to activate change, whether that’s spatial, environmental, political or social. Lemma Shehadi interviews Alison Killing, the architect who won a Pulitzer Prize for her role in mapping prison camps in western China, while Flo Wales Bonner introduces us to Post Carbon Lab, a design duo developing algae-based textiles that turn clothes into carbon capturers. Nana Biamah-Ofosu reports on London’s Low Line, a walking route activating historic railway infrastructure, and Allyssia Alleyne talks to Naj Austin of Somewhere Good, a new social media platform providing a safer and more joyful space for communities of colour. We meet raumlaborberlin, the Golden Lion-winning architecture collective known for its propositional urban structures, and report from the Chicago Architecture Biennial, where vacant plots are being activated with architect-led, community-focused initiatives. Plus: Superflux, Herzog & de Meuron, the Algorithmic Justice League, DSDHA, Milan Design Week, London Design Festival and much more.