_
Adapt: Architecture and Climate Change

Visitors to The Design Museum in London, will be able to experience a new exhibit, as the exterior of the building transforms in AR, to bring the realities of extreme weather due to climate change to life. In turn, the building materials themselves transform, to highlight the way we can adapt to combat these challenges. This inaugural Landmarker project, in partnership with Snap, sees architect Mariam Issoufou Kamara reimagine the Design Museum building to mark its fifth birthday in its current home, and ties into the Design Museum’s mission to make the impact of design visible and demonstrate its role in addressing contemporary issues.  Visitors or passers by will be prompted to ‘Open their Snapchat’ at which point Snap’s AR technology will transform the building in front of their eyes, bringing the sometimes distant effects of climate change close to home by putting it right in front of them. Mariam’s career began in software development before she went back to school to study architecture, her first love. She founded architecture and research practice, atelier masōmī, in 2014. It is Mariam’s belief that architects have an important role to play in creating spaces that have the power to elevate, dignify, and provide people with a better quality of life.  Mariam chose to explore how architecture can adapt to extreme weather conditions, and not only highlights the ongoing effects of climate change but demonstrates a tangible way that buildings can be adapted and repurposed to face contemporary problems.  Mariam Issoufou Kamara, said: “For an architect whose practice is in a desert country like Niger, the effects of the climate crisis are already all around us through increased droughts, floods, and even climate refugees. This collaboration with the Design Museum and Snap, really allowed me to explore a future where the climate has changed drastically, a new normal if you will. I wanted to use the facade of the Design Museum to explore how the built environment might respond to harsh conditions, and how we could perhaps put buildings to use in order to serve new needs under extreme conditions.” The Snap Landmarker project celebrates both that renewal of an architectural classic and the way that buildings can be adapted for a changing world.