Building Barbegazi

2012

Designed by Rory McDonald

Designer : Jack O'Hagan

Designer: Joe Ridealgh

Designer: Polly Amery

Participant: Barbara Arita

Participant: Gabriele Caradonna

Participant: Andrej Dojchinovski

Participant: Drilon Elezaj

Participant: Antti Jäppinen

Participant: Aysel Karimli

Participant: Jelena Kazak

Participant: Iben Moller

Participant: Sandra Elise Nylund

Participant: Hani Salih

Participant: Nik Solina

Participant: Lauris Svarups

Participant: Jonė Virbickaitė

Categories: Environmental

Industry: Cultural

Building Barbegazi was a project about storytelling and identity, and how we, as designers articulate stories visually and spatially. The Project was about the process of visual communication and it's ability to embody cultural meaning and identity.

The Project consisted of the design, production and use of a lightweight toolkit of architectural and graphic elements to create temporary installations and site-specific interventions in the Swiss alps, based off of stories we had collected from locals.

Over a period of two weeks, we attempted to translate stories and experiences of each place and its inhabitants from a verbal language into a visual and spatial one. We assembled our kit of parts (timber planks, panels, fabric, rope) into backpacks, and hiked through villages and into the mountains, creating temporary installations as we went.

By taking the design process into the field, Building Barbegazi was a project about exploring the process by which we use visual communication as a language and trying to capture the magic moment a composition of physical elements begins to do more, and embody cultural and meaning.