Faculty member Fionn Byrne recently led a team of SALA students (Roxane Grégoire, MARCH, Noora Hijra, MLA, Kendra Scanlon, MLA, Jordan Yule, MLA) at the CBDX: B(OR)DERL(AND)S International Design Ideas Competition, hosted by the University of Calgary. They were finalists and received an honourable mention at the competition.
This design competition deals with the geographical features of borders and asks its designers to consider: How can designers intervene with borders?
Their submission, titled Fortress North America: Defending Sovereign Territory Against Nature, Climate Change and its Impacts, deals with the ideas of colonization in North America. It touches on how European settlers built ‘fortresses’ to protect them from unknown territory, and suggests a “reevaluation of militaristic posture against nature”.
The project, along with the other finalists, can be viewed in a virtual exhibition. More on the submission can be found on Fionn Byrne’s website.