February 21, 2025 - Surjan Super School Weekly Newsletter

SURJAN SUPER SCHOOL WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

A Resounding Success in Tennessee

This past week, Surjan Super School presented a lecture at the University of Tennessee, engaging students and faculty in a dialogue about gravity-defying architectural education. The talk was met with enthusiasm, especially in discussions about playful inclusivity, inflatable urbanism, and the poetic possibilities of color and form. Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to the discussion!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE SURJAN SUPER SCHOOL COLLECTION

This week’s featured Surjan Super School Collection explores soft architectures, cloud cities, and the reinvention of the civic commons. Below, we highlight some of the standout ideas from our latest speculative designs.

1. The Playground City

Architecture as a place of joy, movement, and curiosity.📸 (Top row, images 1-3) A continuous landscape of inflatable ceilings, undulating floors, and playful seating reimagines public interiors as dynamic environments that respond to body movement and interaction. These designs challenge the rigidity of traditional spatial programming, prioritizing softness, adaptability, and engagement over static architectural form.

2. The Sky Ceiling & Theatrical Atmospheres

A ceiling should not be a limit, but a gateway to the imagination.📸 (Middle row, images 1-3) We explore the illusion of infinite skies within interiors. Expansive ceilings open to virtual atmospheres, shifting between blue skies, sunset hues, and rolling storm clouds. Some models integrate kinetic clouds, changing form throughout the day. This transforms storytelling spaces into immersive, ever-evolving environments.

3. Monumental Softness

Rethinking civic institutions through playful materiality.📸 (Bottom row, images 1-2) From inflatable colonnades to soft, billowing domes, these spaces question the weight and permanence of architecture. Public buildings no longer need to be cold, rigid, and monumental. Instead, they become welcoming, sensorial, and flexible—a reflection of the fluidity of contemporary identities.

DESIGN SPOTLIGHT: HEADWEAR AS ARCHITECTURE

📸 (Middle right, images 1-3)What if architecture lived on our heads? This series of images explores wearable structures, where buildings and fashion intersect. From gridded wooden frameworks to colorful inflatable crown-like sculptures, these speculative designs suggest that identity and place are deeply intertwined.

NEW PROJECT: THE LIVING LIBRARY

📸 (Bottom row, images 3-4)A new iteration of our Storytelling Center concept, these green-roofed, modular book spaces create reading sanctuaries for children. By blending natural materials with playful forms, we create a safe and inspiring environment that merges learning and adventure.

UPCOMING EVENTS

📅 March 5, 2025 – Virtual Panel on Post-Gravity Pedagogy Join us as we continue to explore the intersection of floating structures, inflatables, and post-gravity educational spaces.

📅 March 15, 2025 – Exhibition Launch: Soft Futures A curated selection of our works will be presented at [venue TBD], showcasing the latest in speculative architectures, interactive urbanism, and alternative material strategies.

THANK YOU!

As always, thank you for being part of Surjan Super School—a space for radical imagination, joyful learning, and architectural futures that defy gravity.