Sophie
Chien

Practice

This thesis operates on two levels - the creation of a project and a practice, through the lens of a designer-organizer. The project imagines a designer-organizer outcome, and the practice extrapolates it to creating a framework and ethos. The project speculates a justice oriented future where a coastal indigenous community has agency to migrate and reclaim their traditional lands and lifeways by localizing their jurisdiction, thereby amplifying their agency. The creation of a designer-organizer practice revises a traditional architectural model and foregrounds community involvement. The work of a designer-organizer is to engage building communities at both an infrastructural and societal level, working through systems and hierarchy to design systemic change.