The Place Bureau

04/03/2025

Meet Christos, an architect from Peristeri, the west side of Athens, who’s all about big ideas and bold design.

He’s got a Master’s in Urban Strategies from the Angewandte in Vienna and has worked with design heavyweights like Zaha Hadid Architects and Fuksas. From Greece to China, Italy, and the UK, he’s been reimagining spaces and pushing creative boundaries at every scale.

Earlier this year, he joined The Place Bureau, where he continues to shape innovative projects and ideas that redefine how we experience places.

When he’s not immersed in design, you might spot him cycling fixed through the busy streets of London or finding fresh inspiration in global trends and pop culture. Christos loves creating spaces that don’t just look good—they make you feel something.

We’re excited to have him on board! Say ciao to him in the comments 👋

24/02/2025

Futures Lab in Münsingen 🇨🇭

The Futures Lab end-of-year event in Münsingen brought together our team, advisory panel, and partners for a powerful exchange of ideas.

We took a tour around the USM factory and the Buchli House on site, designed by Fritz Haller. This was followed by presentations from our design partners and a series of panel discussions allowing our advisory panel to interrogate the themes and concepts highlighted by our design partners.

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed! The journey doesn’t end here—we’re already looking ahead to Futures Lab 2025! 🚀

19/02/2025

Out of Futures Lab, four groundbreaking projects emerged:

🔥 Fire, Walk With Me (Studio ThusThat) – Rethinking fire as a sustainable material and energy system.

🧵 Cotton 2.0 (Material Library of India) – Revolutionizing textiles with bio-based, climate-adaptive materials.

🏙️ Scaling Empathy (Henning Larsen) – Reimagining urban resilience by adapting and reusing existing spaces.

🏛️ DCCT (Daphne Lundi) – A governance model integrating community-led climate action.

Each project is a bold response to the challenges of tomorrow. You can find out more about these projects and their creators in the Futures Lab journal.

17/02/2025

Meet Our Design Partners!

Innovation starts with collaboration, and we’re proud to introduce the incredible design partners who were commissioned to explore our two worlds as part of the Futures Lab innovation programme:

🔹 Studio ThusThat – Rethinking materials and energy
🔹 Material Library of India – Pioneering sustainable textiles
🔹 Henning Larsen – Designing climate-resilient cities
🔹 Daphne Lundi – Creating community-driven climate solutions

This global cohort took inspiration from our Future Worlds to develop transformative projects.

13/02/2025

Introducing Futures Lab 2024 — A Synergy of Intelligences

The Fondation USM Futures Lab is an experimental innovation programme, with a mission to explore, envision, and advocate for possible futures that can create a positive impact on our world. With a steadfast commitment to modularity, flexibility, and sustainability, we strive to guide society towards a brighter and more resilient future.

“The centres of work, living, and leisure are chaotically intermingled, and a meaningful life in them seems more and more questionable.”
Fritz Haller

Join us on this journey!

18/12/2024

Continuing our highlights of 2024….

Worldbuilding ‘Waterfront Futures’ in Rotterdam’s Tidal Park for Placemaking Europe; talking experience design for cities at Wlrd City, Bilbao; being invited to be a part of the Urbanites Fair at Utopian Hours, Turin, hosted by Stratosferica ⛴️

Launching the 2050 Shared Ambition for the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough region, re-igniting a renaissance in Southampton, and co-creating the vision for place for Bristol Temple Quarter, alongside the talented teams at Prior + Partners 🚂

Being invited into the Future Observatory fold at the Design Museum to host panel discussions and take part in the UK2040 roundtable 🎙️

Over and out 2024. Onwards and upwards to 2025…



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18/12/2024

We love to gaze towards the future. But before we look to 2025, we want to take a breath and look back at an epic year. Big thanks to our talented team at The Place Bureau and the amazing people and places we’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with. We couldn’t have created any of this without you.

Here come our highlights, in no particular order … ✨

Curating and hosting futures workshops in New York and Münsingen, Switzerland for Fondation USM Futures Lab with brilliant partners For Everyday Life. 🔮

Re-imagining the future of the Gateway Mall in St Louis, Missouri, USA thanks to ULI St. Louis Greater St. Louis Inc. (GSL) and the St. Louis Development Corporation (SLDC) and the citizens of St Louis. 🛍️

Creating a 100 year vision for East Hemel Garden Community, and a vision for an open, equitable innovation district in Cambridge, UK, with and for The Crown Estate. 🌳



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05/12/2024

The PLACE BUREAU’S Ultimate Christmas Gift Guide 🎁 for Place-Makers: Natural Futures Book

This year, give the gift of imagination, creative insight, and transformation. 🎅 Our carefully curated gift guide features three unique tools to inspire anyone shaping places for the future.

First up, Natural Futures: a book exploring the evolving relationship between our human spaces and the natural world, packed with global case studies and small steps toward more natural futures. Perfect for nature lovers, dreamers, thinkers, and doers.

Get your order in before the 15th December (UK) for Christmas deliveries!

Buy from our online shop: Link in bio!

13/09/2024