Future Observatory Annual Programme
Design Researchers in Residence 2023/24: Solar
Delivered by the Design Museum's Future Observatory in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), this residency programme supports design researchers at the start of their careers to spend a year developing a new project in response to a theme.
2023-24 Theme: Solar
The 2023/4 residents will respond to the theme of ‘Solar’, investigating ways in which design can influence our rapidly changing relationship with the heat and light of the sun. The year so far has been marked by dramatic changes in climate systems across the world, with countries struggling with the effects of extreme heat beyond the capacity of local infrastructures. The EU’s climate service has confirmed that 2023 is set to become the hottest year on record.
This year’s Design Researchers in Residence are April Barrett, Eliza Collin, Jamie Irving and Freya Spencer-Wood. The cohort come from a variety of design specialisms, which is reflected in the diversity of their responses to the brief: the residents will look at a broad range of topics such as the retrofit agenda, the scent of plants under environmental stress, peatland restoration, and waste heat produced by data centres.
The programme will culminate in a publication and free public display at the Design Museum in June 2024, through which visitors will learn about a range of impactful new thinking that centres design in the green transition.
Design Researchers in Residence: Solar will run from September 2023 to June 2024.
2023/24 residents
April Barrett
April Barrett is a researcher and strategist, who comes from a video game industry background in Canada. During her residency at the Design Museum, April will focus on the potentially damaging impact of data centres on the energy supplies available to local communities. She will also question the validity of Big Tech’s increasing entanglement with renewable energy futures.
Eliza Collin
Eliza Collin is a designer and researcher whose practice spans areas of ethnography, art, co-design and education. As a Design Researcher in Residence, Eliza will explore how the scents emitted by plants are changing in response to climate breakdown. This work is a continuation of a project developed in collaboration with agroecologist Dr Coline Jaworski. Eliza will examine the domino effect of this phenomenon on surrounding ecosystems, from pollinator health to food systems.
Jamie Irving
Jamie Irving is an architect and educator who teaches Design Studio and Tectonics at Kingston School of Art. His research will explore the insulative and solar heating potential of conservatories. The project is underpinned by the idea that reducing energy consumption within housing offers opportunities for reimagining the relationship between our built environment and the climate.
Freya Spencer-Wood
Freya Spencer-Wood is an interdisciplinary designer and researcher working at the intersection of set design, land politics and queer identity. Freya’s research at the Design Museum will explore Scotland’s lack of sun, wet climate and peatland restoration as an opportunity for impactful climate action and equitable land reform. The project recognises the inherent link between spatial and climate justice and will investigate bogs as queer spaces: in-between landscapes that are often misunderstood.
The programme
Design Researchers in Residence is Future Observatory’s programme for design research into the climate crisis hosted at the Design Museum. The residency supports thinkers at the start of their careers to develop new research on environmental concerns and centred around a particular theme.
The residency has two main aims: to provide design researchers in the early stages of their careers time and space away from their regular environment to develop and produce new work, and to offer museum visitors an opportunity to engage with live design research projects.
Each year the residency accommodates four researchers, working in different design disciplines, to further develop their individual responses to the theme and brief. The programme culminates with a publication and final showcase at the Design Museum, due to open in June 2024. Each resident is provided with a commissioning budget, which goes directly towards producing the work in the display as well as a bursary to support the development of their career and to fund their practice.
The Design Researchers in Residence programme builds upon the Design Museum’s Designers in Residence programme, which ran from 2007–2020. The revised residency programme, now in its third year, continues to provide emerging designers and researchers with time and space away from their regular environment to develop impactful new projects that contribute to design research into the climate crisis taking place across the country.
Future Observatory
Future Observatory is a national programme for design research supporting the UK’s response to the climate crisis. The programme is coordinated by and based at the Design Museum in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), as part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Future Observatory aims to accelerate how we find solutions to the most pressing issues. It brings design researchers together with the networks that can help them have an impact on achieving the UK’s environmental goals.
Previous years
Background image: Drawing: Sunglasses by Ross Lovegrove, courtesy of the Design Museum Collection. Portraits 2023 © Justine Trickett for the Design Museum.