Biographies

Johanna Roth is an architect investigating how space shapes culture, identity, and everyday life. She studied at ETH Zurich, UdK Berlin, and ETSAM Madrid, and worked as Project Leader for five years with Peter Märkli on housing and educational buildings. Since 2020, she has taught at ETH with Jan de Vylder, exploring how we live through spatial re-imaginations. In 2024, she directed the summer school Pulse in Oslo, turning food, tools, and rituals into performative experiments. Through Studio Roth, she develops projects that activate spatial identity across scales and durations. She also cofounded Fuse, a women-owned concept space in Zurich. At IDW Antwerp, she continues this trajectory, transforming the supermarket into a stage for belonging.

Workshop #1: Supermarket as public stage

​Marianna Moskal & Bartosz Teodorczyk are Polish architects who studied and practiced abroad, currently based in Antwerp. The theme of be-longing resonates with us deeply: as expats, we experience both longing for what we know and a shifting sense of belonging as we adapt to new places, language, and culture. 

Educated at TU Delft in the chair of Interiors Buildings Cities, our design methods rely on careful observation, contextual analysis, and critical interpretation. We continue this approach in our work at ono architectuur and HUB architecten in Antwerp. Our projects, both collaborative and individual, have been shown in exhibitions in Poland and abroad (Archiprix 2023, Nieobecność OSSA 2020, Futuwawa 2050). We collaborate with Polish architectural magazine Rzut writing our reflections on a range of topics. We also have experience in designing and building large-scale art installations. Last year we joined IDW as guest critics; this year we would like to continue working with students as tutors, sharing our experiences and perspectives.

Workshop #2: Traces of Belonging

Jang Hee Lee is a UK-registered architect (ARB) based in London. He graduated from the AA School with a commendation and is beginning a PhD there on the socio-political history of large-scale housing in East Asia. He led the workshop Communal Block: Housing Questions of the Korean Apartment at Kaywon University, examining typological and political aspects of contemporary housing.

Ania Trần is an AA graduate and architectural designer based in London. Through the LINA fellowship with the Community Maintenance Club, she co-led a material reuse workshop with Barleti University in Albania. She was a teaching assistant with the collective Rubble for the AA Summer School City Constructs, exploring the life cycles of urban detritus and possibilities of reuse from deconstruction sites.

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Workshop #3: Form-Ritual: Storyboard of Belongings and Collectives​

Liza Goncharenko is a Ukrainian architect, urban designer, researcher at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. She holds a MSc in Architecture from KU Leuven and a BArch from Kharkiv National University of Civil Engineering and Architecture. She also studied Urbanism and Landscape Architecture at Lisbon University and completed a course on Heritage Studies in Conflict Zones at IHS Erasmus University Rotterdam. From 2013–2017, she was Ukraine's National Contact for the EASA, later tutoring at EASA Tourist (CH) and EASA Rhizome (FI). She co-curated SESAM in Slavutych and was awarded residencies at the Institute for Public Architecture, Art Omi, Irish Architecture Foundation and Hospitalfield. Her work explores architecture, heritage, and landscape, with a focus on Ukraine’s reconstruction.

Workshop #4: Cartographies of Care: Threads of Loss, Stitches of Healing

Igor Łysiuk (PL) - Architect, Researcher, Curator.
He researches, seeks and designs a regenerative future. In his work, he uses his abilities to adapt, observe and see connections that are invisible at first glance.
Integrates neuroscience, circular economy and ESG principles into regenerative design. Co-founder of leading Polish architectural initiatives, including RZUT magazine and ZODIAK Warsaw Pavilion of Architecture. Curator of a number of exhibitions on architecture and the intersection between architecture and other disciplines. Winner of numerous awards, including FRAME Awards. He gained knowledge at the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw University of Technology, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Central St. Martins in London.

Workshop #5: Common Sense

French architect graduated from ENSA Paris-Malaquais, Paul Pascaud worked with Studio Muoto and then Jean-Christophe Quinton’s office before developing his own independent practice. His work focuses in particular on contemporary forms of housing, construction systems, and the qualities of use on a human scale. He places central importance on modes of representation such as hand drawing, collage, and modeling, which he considers to be tools for thinking. At the same time, he has taught various workshops at ENSA Paris Malaquais, exploring the links between architecture and plastic experimentation: design and production of bas-reliefs, models made from raw materials, exploration of fictional imagery through text, molding and drawing.

Quentin Moranne is a French architect who graduated from ENSA Paris-Malaquais and also studied at UDK Berlin. He has collaborated with fashion and furniture designer Rick Owens and currently works as a project manager at Studio Muoto in Paris. At the same time, he is developing his own practice as an independent architect and teacher. He has taught as a studio tutor at TU Vienna and led several workshops for ENSA Paris-Malaquais and the University of Melbourne’s Venice Studio programme. In his practice, he seeks to draw on references from the margins of the architectural discipline and to enrich the design process with exploratory methods from contemporary art.

Workshop #6: Mask On!

Alessia Bertini practices research-based design and teaching activities, including her role as assistant at ETH Zürich with the Chair of Jan De Vylder. From 2022 to 2024 she co-led the ETH Summer residency program of ETH Zürich in:dépendance. Her work focuses on the interpretation of space across scales—from the intimate to the infrastructural—investigating hidden systems and collateral agents through design, writing, and curation. Her projects include State of the Hearts (Furkaradio, 2024), Venice Biennale, and contributions to Cartha Magazine and TRANS Magazin. She participated in Land Art Safiental Biennale and MAT Festival. Her practice moves between spatial speculation, critical research, and pedagogy.

Margherita Marri (PhD Candidate, Politecnico di Milano) is an architect and researcher investigating the intersections of architecture, politics, ecology, and technology. Co-founder of CAPTCHA Architecture with Jacopo Rosa, she curated Machines of Loving Grace (Milano Arch Week 2019) and runs SUPERATTICO in Milan. She teaches at Politecnico di Milano, TU Wien, NABA, and the AA in London. Her project Anonima Agricola was nominated for the EuMiesAward 2023. With CAPTCHA, she earned a Special Mention at Premio Architettura Italiana and exhibited at the Venice Biennale, Triennale Milano, Tbilisi, and Pecci.

​Workshop #7: ORDINARY FICTION Inquiry on the Genesis of domestic Mythologies

Aleksandra Kot is an artist and educator specializing in typography, book design, and spatial forms. She explores how typography intersects with space, time, and sound, treating the written word as a catalyst for performative and participatory experiences. Her projects expand type beyond static form, from experimental books to large-scale installations. As graduate, PhD, and adjunct professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, she leads studios in typography and graphic design. She initiated and leads typtopia, an Erasmus+ project exploring sound, typography, and Joyce’s Finnegans Wake. She has conducted international workshops, including recent programs in India, combining typographic experimentation with embodied, spatial, and sonic practices and presented at major conferences such as ATypI.

Workshop #8: Resonant Scripts: Typographic Soundings of Belonging

Ji Zhang and Wenjun Deng are Chinese architects based in Brussels. From the very beginning of our collaboration, we have drawn inspiration from diverse design disciplines. Having lived in diverse societies, we are interested in the way things are formed — and how they can be gently transformed into playful, flexible ways, in constant communication with different contexts and cultures.

For us, teaching is not only a means of sharing knowledge but also a way to explore how different ideas can blend and mediate with one another. For more information: https://douduo.org/.

Workshop #9: The visage of Chinatown in Antwerp

Jakob grabher (*1994 in Austria) is a trained architect focusing on the socio-ecological impacts of archi- tectural production. He explores circular and bricolage-based design approches as responses to the multiple crisis of our time. His experience spans design-build projects, stage design for music theater, and leading hands-on construction workshops for both children and students.

Workshop #10: Structures of Longing: Building Belonging through Bricolage

Wendy Wuyts (PhD) is an ecofeminist researcher, writer, forest therapy guide exploring healing through the intersections of ecology, imagination, and design. With a background in political-industrial ecology and a PhD in environmental studies from Nagoya University, Japan, she bridges research and practice through creative methods. She has published widely in environmental science and humanities, and facilitated over 110 workshops across Europe and Asia.

Vitalija Povilaityte-Petri (PhD) is a pharmacist and transdisciplinary researcher. She studies how medicinal plants, urban green spaces, therapeutic landscapes and traditional knowledge contribute to human connectedness with nature and regeneration of healthy ecosystems. She divides her time between Lithuania, Belgium and Sweden.

Workshop #11: Co-Creating an Apothecary for BE+LONGING

Arnaud Naômé is a trained architect, teacher and researcher at LOCI UCLouvain & La Cambre Horta ULB. He founded collective « -esque » with other architects and researchers. esque undertakes renovation projects, organizes workshops, and creates speculative projects and furniture. Through its activities, esque conveys an attitude of playfulness that combines design,research through projects, and the culture of representation. esque has recently curated the Brussels Archiweek, have been invited in residency for Across by the VAI, ICA and A+ Magazine. The collective has been involved since 2020 in pedagogical workshops where they collaborated with others (space) practionners or artist and designers such as Théo De Meyer, Arnaud Eubelen, Bram Vanderbeke & Jonathan Muecke in a post-discipline approach.
​https://esque.info/Info

Elisa Valenzuela is a creative director and artist whose path shaped a unique vision in image exploration. Trained in object design at ESAD Reims and graphic design at Penninghen Paris, she developed a tactile approach to visuals. Early works appeared in Provider, later leading to collaborations with Vox Pop, Libération, Le Nouvel Observateur and M, le magazine du Monde. Exploring collage and symbolism became central to her practice. In 2015, she became a freelance art director, and in 2017 founded Studio Convergences, blending collage, animation, and stop motion. With clients like Hermès and Weston, the studio highlights craftsmanship in a digital age. This site presents her studies and experiments, tracing her artistic evolution.
​https://elisavalenzuela.com | https://convergences.studio​

Workshop #12: Common Vexilloids

​afloat is a publishing and educational platform to imagine the end otherwise. Co-led by writer and spatial researcher María Mazzanti and graphic designer and artist Anna Bierler, afloat explores the boundaries of storytelling, worldmaking, and climate catastrophe. Together, they engage with environmental and societal endings such as obsolescence, waste, collapse, and disappearance. Through publications, workshops, and experimental formats such as compost-publishing and wet-reading tools, afloat develops methods for thinking, writing, and feeling through endings—staying attuned to the planetary crisis from a space of vulnerability and care.

María Mazzanti is an architect, editor, and educator based in Amsterdam. Her work focuses on critical spatial practices, publishing, and environmental breakdown. She is an editor at Failed Architecture, managing editor of VOLUME magazine, and teaches at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and the Sandberg Instituut.

Anna Bierler is a Rotterdam-based artist working across writing, visual art, and performance. Her work explores feminist temporalities, ecological entanglements, and how meaning is shaped in relation to others. She regularly teaches at art and architecture schools, including Gerrit Rietveld Academie, TU Delft, WdKA, and the University of Antwerp.

Workshop #13: Desire Paths: Mapping the Margins.

Mercedes Peralta is an Argentine–Italian architect, researcher, and educator, based between Buenos Aires and Europe. She studied architecture at University of Buenos Aires and earned her Master of Architecture from Princeton University. Her work explores architecture through various formats, including spatial design, editorial and art direction, with a focus on materiality, atmosphere, and landscape. She has held a Research Associate position at Harvard GSD, where she also co-taught thesis in the Landscape Architecture program. Further teaching experience includes Princeton, TU Graz, and most recently her role as Senior Lecturer at TU Wien. She has collaborated with Studio Boden on media, identity, and visual projects. Her research and design work has been published internationally, being also co-author of the Harvard GSD research publication 50 Species Towns.

Workshop #14: Landscapes of Subtle Affinities

Studied Architecture at Delft Technical University, Michel Melenhorst worked at Wiel Arets (1991-1995), Rem Koolhaas/OMA (1995-1999), DAAD Architects (2005-2012) and founded 2012 FM together with Angelika Fuchs. FM specialises in research and design, especially on educational and inclusive spaces. Since 2012, he has been Professor for Contextual Design at the Detmold School of Design, and he is Dean of Studies and coordinator for the Architecture Master. Michel Melenhorst has extensive experience in architectural design, teaching, lecturing, coordinating processes, project leadership, research, and writing and coalesces all these, in varyingcombinations, with different accents, and at several institutes, such as TU Delft, ArtEZ, Design Academy Eindhoven, Aarhus school of Architecture, K Arts Seoul.

Eric de Leeuw studied Interior Architecture and Architecture at the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam, from which he graduated cum laude in 1995. He worked at Studio Alchemia with Alessandro Mendini (Milan) and Mecanoo Architects (Delft), among others. In 1997, he was the co-founder of DAAD Architects, of which he was part as architect/director until 2005. Since then, he has worked independently on projects in the field of architecture, interior design and visual arts. In 2002 Eric de Leeuw started tutoring at many different schools, i.e. architecture at the Universities of the Arts in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Arnhem and Groningen. He has been the head of the ArtEZ IN_architecture department for the last ten years (2014 -2024). Currently, he holds positions as an architect at aedl and as an educator and artistic researcher at ArtEZ University of the Arts.

Workshop #15: [N]everness 

Michael Leube is a design anthropologist, professor, author, and consultant whose work bridges anthropology, ethics, and sustainability to redefine the role of design in addressing global challenges. He has co-authored two books on the circular economy and published widely in international journals. His most recent book, The Future Designer: Anthropology Meets Innovation in Search of Sustainable Design (Routledge, 2024), positions him at the forefront of critical conversations on design for social innovation and humanitarian design. Leube’s forward-looking approach to design education—grounded in resilience, ethical responsibility, and cultural insight—has earned him invitations to lecture at top design and architecture schools across Europe, as well as to consult with international firms including IDEO and Fjord. His TED talk, “Why Designers Should Urgently Listen to Anthropologists,” further underscores his ability to translate anthropological thinking into actionable strategies for designers and innovators.

Over the course of his career, Leube has held faculty appointments at leading institutions such as IE University, the University of California, Santa Clara University, the London School of Economics, Syracuse University, and the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences. His international teaching and research underscore his influence in shaping a new generation of designers equipped to meet the complex demands of a sustainable future.

Born in 1963, Samuel Roux began his graphic design studies in the early 1980s—a dynamic, pre-digital era marked by freedom and creativity. From the beginning, he was deeply inspired by music and visual culture, passions that continue to shape his career both as a visual artist and as a performer in a punk band based in Orléans, France.

After graduating in 1986 from the Orléans Visual Arts Institute, Roux launched his career as a freelance designer, focusing primarily on cultural and social events. He quickly discovered a strong affinity for poster design and visual identity, developing a body of work that spans jazz and rock festivals, symphonic orchestras, scientific exhibitions, human rights conferences, and public awareness campaigns on social issues such as addiction care. Over the years, he has been commissioned by Town Councils, Ministries, and numerous cultural institutions. Since 2000, Roux has shared his expertise as a professor of graphic design at the Orléans School of Art and Design (ESAD). He is actively engaged in international workshops, lectures, and teaching exchanges, and his work has been exhibited at design festivals and exhibitions worldwide.

As an educator, Roux is known for his commitment to nurturing students’ critical perspectives and artistic voices. He emphasizes the importance of research, authenticity, and ethics in design, encouraging young designers to create work that is both visually compelling and socially meaningful.

Workshop #16: The City of a Thousand Faces: Diversity as Design Catalyst

Alexandra Sonnemans (NL, 1986) is an architect and urban designer (MSc, TU Delft) working across design, research, and dialogue. Her practice spans architectural projects, public space, exhibitions, and programs – creating a continuous exchange between reflection and action. With an experimental and interdisciplinary approach, she engages with both site-specific and societal questions through situated design practice. She creates public programs for the architecture centre CAST (Tilburg) and was co-founder of rotative studio (2017–2023). Her work has been presented at a.o. Model Architectures Festival (Barcelona), London Festival of Architecture, and Dutch Design Week, and in 2020 she was nominated for the ARC Young Talent Award.
​https://alexesoleil.com/
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Michiel Huijben (NL, 1985) is a visual artist and researcher whose work explores the interaction between architecture, politics, and society. Through texts, performances, videos, and installations, he gives voice to unspoken narratives and evokes speculative legacies embedded in the built
environment. Huijben studied Fine Arts at St. Joost (Breda) and the Sandberg Institute (Amsterdam), and holds a master’s degree in Architectural History & Theory from The Cass in London. His work has been presented at Kunstinstituut Melly, Het Nieuwe Instituut, De Appel (Amsterdam), Extra City
(Antwerp), Matt’s Gallery (London), and Kunsthalle Basel. He is founder of the publication project Flat i and currently coordinator of the Minor programme at the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture.
https://www.michielhuijben.nl/

Workshop #17: Throwntogetherness

Alexander Barina  is an architect and lecturer based in Leipzig. He studied at Bauhaus University Weimar, the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK), and ETH Zurich. Before founding his own practice, Studio Barina, in 2018, he worked for several offices such as Adolf Krischanitz and Lacaton & Vassal. Alongside his practice, he has taught at TU Vienna, TU Graz, UdK Berlin (with SUMMACUMFEMMER), and most recently at HTWK Leipzig with Robert Saat and Felix Schaller. His projects and writings have been published in magazines such as Hochparterre, planphase, and diskursiv. In 2021 he was a fellow at the Academy of Arts in Berlin. He also curates the architecture blog Téchne – Architectural Juxtaposition.

Felix Schaller  is an architect and lecturer based in Leipzig. He studied Architecture at Hochschule Coburg and Bauhaus University Weimar as well as Art History and Philosophy at FAU-Erlangen/Nürnberg. He worked for several offices such as Enzmann Fischer in Zürich and SUMMACUMFEMMER in Leipzig where he founded his own practice with Robert Saat, SAATSCHALLER in 2021. Alongside his practice he has taught at TU Munich with SUMMACUMFEMMER, was a guest lecturer at Hochschule Coburg and most recently led a independent design studio at HTWK Leipzig with Alexander Barina and Robert Saat.

Robert Saat is an architect and lecturer based in Leipzig. He studied at Siegen University, KU Leuven and Bauhaus University Weimar. Before founding his own practice with Felix Schaller, SAATSCHALLER in 2021, he worked for several offices such as Gigon Guyer, Bruno Fioretti Marquez and SUMMACUMFEMMER. Alongside his practice he has taught at HTWK Leipzig with Alexander Barina and Felix Schaller and currently teaches at RWTH Aachen University. His projects and writings have been published in magazines such as Trans, Dimensions and Bauwelt.

Workshop #18: Cadavre Exquis