{"id":31140,"date":"2026-05-19T15:56:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T12:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archfondas.lt\/?p=31140"},"modified":"2026-05-19T16:14:50","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:14:50","slug":"affording-environments-experiments-platform-open-call-to-critically-reflect-on-the-phenomenon-of-smoothing-and-homogenising-spaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archfondas.lt\/en\/affording-environments-experiments-platform-open-call-to-critically-reflect-on-the-phenomenon-of-smoothing-and-homogenising-spaces\/","title":{"rendered":"Affording Environments: Experiments\u2019 Platform Open Call to Critically Reflect on the Phenomenon of Smoothing and Homogenising Spaces"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Organised since 2021, the Experiments\u2019 Platform is a mentorship, alternative education, and idea development programme. Acting as a creative incubator, the platform annually invites participants to explore and discover alternative architectural practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, participants of the Experiments\u2019 Platform will be guided by experienced mentors from Lithuania and abroad, take part in a residency at VARES in Estonia, and have the opportunity to present their experiments in a group exhibition in Vilnius.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students and young professionals in architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, urbanism, and related fields are invited to submit ideas for experiments that analyse socially, ecologically, and economically inclusive environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Season Six Theme: Affording Environments<\/em><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Curated by architects and researchers Aist\u0117 Gaidilionyt\u0117<\/a><\/strong> and Kamil\u0117 Vasiliauskait\u0117<\/a><\/strong>, the sixth season of the platform invites a focus on Affording Environments<\/em>. These are understood here as an entirety of material and immaterial factors that create a certain medium for interaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As manifestations of the Smooth City<\/em> (as described in the book by researcher Ren\u00e9 Boer<\/a>) are ever more persistent through artificial, profit-generating and sterile spaces that do not allow diversity and create exclusion, the Experiments’ Platform invites spatial practitioners to look for methods in building resilience and learning from environments that do not succumb to smoothing<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The platform will encourage moving beyond what human-made environments provide formally or functionally, considering instead how they include and empower different social groups, bodies, and species, whilst inviting empathy, dialogue, and interaction between humans and more than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sixth season of the platform is an invitation to critically reflect on the phenomenon of smoothing and homogenising spaces and consider how human-made environments can foster inclusivity, empathy, and resistance to productivity and control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Platformos
Mentors: (letf to right) Au\u0161ra \u010cesnauskyt\u0117, Pablo Encinas Alonso, Ulla Alla, Ella Prokkola. Photos courtesy of the mentors.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mentorship<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the programme, participants will be guided and consulted by an international team of creators developing alternative architectural practices: artist and spatial practitioner Au\u0161ra \u010cesnauskyt\u0117<\/a><\/strong> (Netherlands \/ Lithuania), architect and spatial artist Ulla Alla<\/a><\/strong> (Estonia \/ Georgia), landscape architect Ella Prokkola<\/a><\/strong> (Finland), and architect and independent researcher Pablo Encinas Alonso<\/a><\/strong> (Sweden \/ Spain).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supported by these mentors and the project\u2019s team, participants will acquire the necessary tools to develop their ideas and expand their knowledge regarding the possibilities of cultivating alternative spatial practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VARES Residency<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The sixth season of the Experiments\u2019 Platform will be implemented in partnership with VARES<\/a>, an international and interdisciplinary residency based in Valga, Estonia, whose aim is to seek, find and create alternative spatial practices. Particular focus here is placed on the critical rethinking of the architectural discipline, the pursuit of slow practices, the revival of vernacular and traditional crafts, and the repurposing of used materials. It\u2019s a space for lifelong learning for architects and spatial artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July, the selected participants will travel for a five-day residency in this unique space. This time will be dedicated to meeting the team, delving into the programme’s theme, generating ideas, and taking the first steps in developing their experiments alongside the mentors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Programme Timeline<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The platform\u2019s programme will run from June to November this year. In July, participants will spend five days developing their projects at the residency in Valga, co-organised by Architekt\u016bros fondas<\/em> and VARES, which will host mentorship sessions, workshops, and collective reflections on the experiments. Throughout the programme, participants will have individual consultations with their mentors. At the end of the mentorship cycle in November, the implemented experiments will be presented in Vilnius at a group exhibition held at the SODAS 2123 cultural centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Experiments\u2019 Platform offers participants:<\/h1>\n\n\n\n