Space Popular

Brick Vault House by Space Popular Nueva Santa Barbara, Valencia, Spain. In collaboration with Estudio Alberto Burgos & Javier Cortina Maruenda. Photographs by Mariela Apollonio @fotografadearquitectura The structure of the house consists of a green steel space-frame filled with exposed load bearing brick vaults and white drywall facades. The steel space-frame –100x100mm square tube– follows a grid of 375x375cm in plan and 316cm height, which we found to be most appropriate for domestic spaces and local planning constraints and defines the overall volume of the building. The steel structure was put up on site in a matter of days with just a scissor lift, no cranes or scaffolding needed. Once completed, the brick craftsmen could use it as the scaffolding. The brick vaults are load bearing and float over the steel structure, being detached from it so that each material can settle at its own pace. This type of brick vault, which dates back to the 13th century and was popularised by Rafael Guastavino in the 19th century, requires no formwork. Instead it relies on the recipe of the gesso so that each brick is bonded in place instantly without any additional support. Although there are faster and more efficient slab construction methods today, we chose this system for its combination of environmental materials and promotion of skilled hand-craft on site. The bricks were made 10 kilometer away from the site at Cooperativa Ladrillera which has fabricated brick products since 1931 with soil taken from the land directly outside the kiln house. #spacepopular #brickvaulthouse #brickvault

Meet the EDGE 2026 Speakers
— Space Popular
@spacepopular Architecture today extends beyond the physical. Led by Lara Lesmes and Fredrik Hellberg, Space Popular explores the relationship between media and the built environment — working across architecture, research, and immersive digital worlds. Their work moves between buildings, exhibitions and virtual spaces, questioning how we experience and inhabit environments both physical and online. At EDGE, they bring a perspective on architecture shaped by technology, culture and new forms of interaction. → Expect expanded realities, hybrid spaces and new architectural narratives. #EDGEFestival #SpacePopular #Architecture #DigitalArchitecture #DesignCulture

Bangkok shophouse transformation. Space Popular is designing a new space developed by @benjiattiwatt and @shootasia Sophie Berry which will launch later this year. In collaboration with @witi9.studio

We are happy to announce that together with @nieuweinstituut we have invited Lara Lesmes and Fredrik Hellberg of Space Popular (@spacepopular ) for a talk on Wednesday 20 May, titled 'The Global Home'.⁠ ⁠ Space Popular is an architecture studio that explores the relationships between media and the built environment through research, design and artworks. The studio has realised buildings, exhibitions, public artworks, furniture collections, and interiors in Asia and Europe, as well as virtual architecture for the immersive internet. ⁠ ⁠ The lecture will take place at the Independent School for the City on Wednesday 20th May at 17:00-19:00. The 5 euro tickets are available on our website here/link in bio.⁠

Soane’s Asset Library. 2025 Space Popular’s contribution to the exhibition The Bank of England in Ruins curated by @studio_jacob_ioa in collaboration with @recessed.space at Hypha Gallery 2 / No. 1 Poultry. London. Thank you @_samjacob for the invitation to participate in the exhibition! Featured artists: Studio Jacob with contributions by Asli figek, Bamidele Awoyemi, CAN, David Kohn, DRDH, Drawing Architecture Studio, Fala, Hugh Strange, Jamie Foubert, Joseph Zeal Henry, Kuehn Malvezzi, Madelon Vriesendorp, Maria Lisogorskaya, Mary Duggan, MBL architects, MOS, Muoto, Nigel Coates, Paradigma Ariadné, Paul Anderson, Peter Wilson, Pier Paolo Tamborelli, Piovenefab, Point Supreme, Sam Chermayeff, Sean Griffiths, Sergison Bates, Shahed Saleem, Space Popular, Supervoid, Witherford Watson Open: 12th December 2025 - 17th January 2026. Soane’s Asset Library is based on a 3D scan by scanlab_projects of The Drawing Office @soanemuseum

𝗙𝗜𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗Ó𝗡 by Space Popular Filandón consists of two components as part of a transmedia ecosystem: 1) The physical space, designed for gathering and multilayered interaction, which is made of soft carpets and cushions inviting comfort, and an audiovisual system that includes virtual reality headsets, screens, speakers, and headphones. 2) The virtual space, an environment that connects participants through text, video, audio, and virtual reality avatars, compiled via independent servers on the social platform VRChat emulating the physical space. This space unifies people regardless of their technological setup and cognitive load choice, allowing someone with a full-body avatar to interact with someone connected through a chat room. Filandón is inspired by research on emerging online communities, such as those observed in VRChat, where intimate and cozy spaces have transformed the way individuals interact. These communities have led to unique environments that resonate with the #cozytech trend: rooms with giant beds, cushioned lounges, and floating platforms where avatars gather to chat, watch movies, or simply share a moment of closeness. These practices informed the creation of a physical and digital environment that invites new forms of intimacy in a collective context. Creative Coder: Roman Roman Miletitch A Special thanks to the following people for their guidance and support in realizing the project. Bani Brusadin - curator/educator/researcher Hugo Diaz - Digital Manager, Asturias Gov. Javier Fernandez - Director of security & strategy Asturias Gov. Alejandra Lopez Gabrielidis - Philosopher on body & data / agency / cognition Marina Otero Verzier - curator/educator/researcher Marta Peirano - Journalist Ramon Rubio - Chair Media Lab Oviedo Videography by Nadia Penella Photography Special Thanks Studios (Cristina Fernández and Siro García) This work was realised within the framework of the European Digital Deal residency program at LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial with support from the Creative Europe Culture Programme of the European Union.

𝗙𝗜𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗Ó𝗡: 𝗣𝗨𝗕𝗟𝗜𝗖 𝗜𝗡𝗙𝗥𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗖𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗦𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗔 𝗚𝗔𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦 During each gathering in Filandón, every layer of interaction -in both physical and virtual space- is spatially recorded using 360* cameras that can capture all angles. These spatial videos are then projected back into the room as a backdrop or cyclorama, becoming part of the environment of future gatherings. With every gathering, a new projection is made, pushing the older ones a step outwards like the rings of a tree so that each gathering takes place in the presence of all past ones. Over time, as recordings are recaptured again and again they slowly loose quality fading into blurry visual noise. Filandón was first exhibited at @laboralcentrodearte in Asturias as part of the exhibition ‘Máquinas Digitales’ curated by Pablo de Soto @pablodesoto and realised within the framework of the European Digital Deal residency program with support from the Creative Europe Culture Programme of the European Union. Creative Coder: Roman Roman Miletitch A Special thanks to the following people for their guidance and support in realizing the project. Bani Brusadin - curator/educator/researcher Hugo Diaz - Digital Manager, Asturias Gov. Javier Fernandez - Director of security & strategy Asturias Gov. Alejandra Lopez Gabrielidis - Philosopher on body & data / agency / cognition Marina Otero Verzier - curator/educator/researcher Marta Peirano - Journalist Ramon Rubio - Chair Media Lab Oviedo Videography by Nadia Penella Photography Special Thanks Studios (Cristina Fernández and Siro García) This work was realised within the framework of the European Digital Deal residency program at LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial with support from the Creative Europe Culture Programme of the European Union.

@laralesmes and @fredrik.hellberg 📸 @specialthanksstudios Cristina Fernández @cristina___fernandez and Siro García. @sirographics

𝗙𝗜𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗Ó𝗡: 𝗣𝗨𝗕𝗟𝗜𝗖 𝗜𝗡𝗙𝗥𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗖𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗦𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗔 𝗚𝗔𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦 Filandón: Public Infrastructure for Transmedia Gatherings is a hybrid and experimental environment that explores how communities can meet and coexist in physical and virtual spaces in an equitable, accessible, and adaptive way. Designed to foster civic and public gatherings, Filandón combines digital platforms, immersive technologies, and physical environments that enable synergistic interaction between multiple forms of presence and socio-temporal spaces. In a short film by Nadia Penella and photographs by Siro García, @laralesmes and @fredrik.hellberg describe both the physical and the virtual part of Filandón and the process of creating it. Nadia’s full film can be found on Youtube and on our website. Filandón was first exhibited at @laboralcentrodearte in Asturias as part of the exhibition ‘Máquinas Digitales’ curated by @pablodesoto and realised within the framework of the European Digital Deal residency program with support from the Creative Europe Culture Programme of the European Union. Creative Coder: Roman Miletitch A Special thanks to the following people for their guidance and support in realizing the project. Bani Brusadin @nonsensebani - curator/educator/researcher Hugo Diaz - Digital Manager, Asturias Gov. Javier Fernandez - Director of security & strategy Asturias Gov. Alejandra Lopez Gabrielidis - Philosopher on body & data / agency / cognition Marina Otero Verzier - curator/educator/researcher Marta Peirano @martapeirano - Journalist Ramon Rubio - Chair Media Lab Oviedo Videography by Nadia Penella Photography Special Thanks Studios (Cristina Fernández and Siro García) @specialthanksstudios @sirographics @cristina___fernandez

Venn Room Workshop and installation SIT by Space Popular at @betacity.eu Beta Architecture Biennial, Cover me softly in Timișoara beautifully captured by @marian_lacombe . Venn Room is a term coined by Space Popular in 2019 to describe virtually overlapped spaces. Participants used the courtyard at the Garrison in Timișoara to imagine possible Venn Room constellations in 1:1. SIT is an installation and short film by Space Popular about virtual seats and the Avatars That Use Them. It was shown at Beta Architecture Biennial, Cover me softly Curated by Oana Stănescu @oooooana

among many (many) things, no time spent in Bangkok is complete without spahopping around some of @spacepopular ’s exquisite interiors and furniture collections for @infinity.wellbeing . they represent a whole span of the practice’s work, with one dayspa completed as long ago as 2014 and another in the works now, over a decade later… 🎟️

ARCHITECTURE & MEDIA - MAIA GRADUATE SHOW Studio led by Fredrik Hellberg & Lara Lesmes (@spacepopular ) Assisted by David Viladomiu Ceballos (@studiochaos.ch ) The split between physical and digital spaces is obsolete, as they are now intricately intertwined, influencing and impacting each other seamlessly. Our social lives occur across media, in transmedia spaces whose design and regulation nobody takes responsibility for. As we gather through multiple layers of media we merge environments and create possibilities for meaningful exchange between people globally as well as further opportunities for manipulation, inequality, and concentration of power. The internet enabled social interaction in and around previously disconnected physical spaces and digital assets, turning the formatting of information into the shaping of unprecedented transmedia realms. As architects we have a plural understanding of the public realm that is at once experiential, practical, and legislative. How do we contribute to the shaping of emerging transmedia worlds in ways that align with values of openness, inclusivity, sustainability, and fairness? MAIA students: Navya Balakrishnan, Sawako Bolch, Emma Canton, Cloé Eischen, Kristina Kambolova, Frida Law, Giada Pettenati, David Röder, Sofia Tapia Buchelli, Célia Tourette, Ana Karina Zepeda Aranda, Sandy Pitetti © HEAD – Genève, Sylvain Leurent