Foteini Spyridakou

This was a response to the brief 2036, a speculative project aimed at exploring what the future could look like, inspired by the prompt 'Ecology Vs Us'.

The Atlas Arc project is designed to provide shelter to isolated peoples in the case of a natural disaster, like a hurricane, a cyclone, or a tsunami. There are many people living in isolated atolls in the Pacific, the Indian Ocean, and in low elevation islands around the world. If there is a surge due to high winds or a tsunami, there is nowhere for those people to hide, nor can they escape, as oftentimes the nearest land is thousands of kilometres away. They can’t even dig underground shelters as their “ground” is composed of calcium deposits formed of corals over thousands of years.

The structure is a submersible self-sufficient mega structure attached to the ocean floor with metal beams. Its main gathering area is under a glass dome, and the floors underneath are designed to host common support facilities and accommodations.

Acting as a proof of concept, the first such structure would be built in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, south of Indonesia and northwest of Perth in Australia, which is nearly 3000 km away.

Today we have G7, G20, the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, etc. Fora designed for the affluent and developed nations, aiming at sorting out their problems and increasing their level of prosperity.

There exists nothing like that for those less privileged nations that are most of the time facing common problems, including extreme poverty, limited access to basic goods, (food, water, healthcare, education and financial resources) corruption, civil war, exposure to natural disasters...

Held inside the confines of the Atlas Arc structure, the forum brings around the table leaders of the developing world, with an aim to share visions, best practices and successes, and even explore the possibilities of coordinated efforts for the acceleration of their progress towards a better future.

All conferences require organisation and engaging events. I focused primarily on two outcomes. The first being an application which allows both attendees and interested parties to follow along the events of the day, find information on past events, become informed on the types of issues being discussed, etc. The app also comes with an AR experience, allowing the viewer a unique glimpse into what is happening in real time and what visuals are being projected to the attendees.

The other outcome is a VR experience created for the workshop in Natural Disasters, which allows the viewer to witness natural disasters in real time. This is meant to be used as an educational tool to teach other nations about what varied natural disasters look like from a safe space and open up the conversation as to the types of protocols needed to protect vulnerable citizens.

There are also perks and signature items. Hoodies in the colours of the conference, embedded with the two logos, a sticker pack, both the VR and AR goggles, as well as a poster of the Atlas custom typeface.

Promotion for the event would happen through social media channels such as Instagram.

I wanted to create a conference that would stand out from its competitors, to send the message that we are here and we are equally as capable of being cool.

Conference set to launch in the year 2036.

During my industry practice year at UAL, I worked for a startup in Ireland. My brief was to design a new product from scratch, and develop all elements of branding and communication.

It was my first engagement of this type. Reflecting back, I thought a lot more could have been done a lot better in all aspects, i.e. the product, the name and the identity elements of the brand. I wanted to take the opportunity to rebrand the entire project, from my own vision.

I am constrained by my confidentiality agreement with the company, and therefore there are limitations regarding the material I can disclose publicly. Yet much of the before and after images are included in this section, albeit with very limited explanation.

I recently presented this new proposal to the company, and it has been accepted and endorsed, primarily the new name for the product. The project is currently in the final stages of the launch.