Popping Spaces: A Workshop on Playful Urban Intervention

Public spaces and play areas are rare in our grey and congested neighborhoods. Yet there are many underutilized spaces that can be creatively converted into green and public user-friendly places to inhabit. Working with architects Sandra Rishani and Nada Borgi from [HATCH] architectural studio, discover Beirut through its in-between spaces and urban ecosystems, while learning how to create your own urban pocket.

By using a specially designed toolkit, this workshop will teach you low-cost and sustainable ways to interact with and intervene in your urban surroundings, using horizontal and vertical architecture elements. The kits are made of largely biodegradable and readily available material that changes and mutates over time. You may keep your production and watch it mutate or dissemble and take your kit home with you to play with your neighborhood.

[HATCH] architects and planners is a Beirut-based international studio skilled in various aspects that deal with design, development and construction of projects on architectural and urban scales.

Nada Borgi is a Beirut-based practicing architect and urban designer with 10 years of experience focusing on real estate product and large-scale development. Nada earned a bachelor of Architecture from the American University of Beirut and master of urban planning and design from the Lebanese university.

Sandra Richani is a Beirut-based practicing architect who graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture from AUB and a master degree in design from Princeton University, where she was a Fullbright scholar, and a master in urban development and planning from University College of London (UCL) courtesy of the British Chevening scholarship. Besides her practice she also runs a blog about fantastical possibilities for Beirut.

Sandra and Nada set up their multidisciplinary design firm [hatch] in 2014. Their projects, on various scales, work on the spaces in between desire, landscape and necessities.