DSGN AGNC (Design Agency) is an architectural, urban design and art studio that experiments with new forms of space creation through political engagement. We work with stakeholders and trans-disciplinary teams to create comprehensive research that can be used to propose a variety of spatial designs, targeted policies and actions that seek to increase agency at various scales — from pamphlets to strategic urban design plans to architectures to landscapes.

DSGN AGNC arises, in part, from a concern about the state and level of investment in Public goods, services, structures and spaces today. What are the kind of public spaces, such as housing, plazas, parks, and institutions that can encourage robust democratic processes?

DSGN AGNC has been exploring how a critical architectural and design approach can operate in this context. We never start a project with a product in mind, meaning that we let the engagement and research process lead us to the right mode of response to any given question or situation. We are as likely to organize around a piece of policy as we are to create a map or design a built structure.

Our work is rooted in a methodology that uses engagement and critical discourse to open up possibilities for change in the processes by which architecture and cities are made. This process also postulates that no product is ever final — designs, buildings, ecologies and urban systems demand broad and holistic community-based processes that can change over time with both constants and variables.