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Lunik CoLab
Lunik CoLab - Community-Driven Design and Participation
Luník CoLab is a series of hands-on workshops empowering the Roma community of Luník IX to transform shared outdoor space. Participants gain skills by co-designing and building modular furniture and a shading system, fostering community ties, and reimagining their environment. The project culminates in a community event featuring a public presentation with an animation of the project’s process and outdoor film screening, inviting dialogue and connection across different groups.
Slovakia
Local
Košice
Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
Early concept
No
No
As an individual partnership with other persons/organisation(s)
The Luník CoLab consists of a series of workshops organised in collaboration with ETP Slovakia and realised throughout one week of August 2025. The location of the workshops is Luník IX - a city borough in Košice and the most segregated Roma settlement in Slovakia. ETP Slovakia works directly with the Roma community at Luník IX and runs a community centre on-site. The project evolved from our master’s project, Barriered Beginnings, a research initiative documenting the structural obstacles Roma people in Slovakia face, with a particular focus on early childhood and education. All three of us graduated from Die Angewandte Vienna – University of Applied Arts, in the Studio of Social Design and Arts as Urban Innovation.
The workshops aim to create an opportunity for the locals to enhance the community house’s outside environment. To prepare for the building workshops, we will host a planning and ideas meeting to get to know the available materials and create a plan for the following days. The physical outcomes will be modular furniture from palettes and a shading system, while the participants have creative and artistic freedom. ETP Slovakia has a long-term collaboration with artists, also creating textile designs, murals, and sculptures in public spaces. The workshop week will end with a community event with a presentation of the process and results (in the form of an animation) and a movie screening on an empty outside wall of the community house. The workshops are open for individuals from the local community of Luník IX, with their participation being completely free and flexible (people can join only for the parts they want to join).
Additionally, we will invite smaller groups to collaborate with the community of ETP, such as students from a university in Košice and seniors. This collaboration will allow these groups to interact positively and build together. All the physical outcomes of the workshops will remain at Luník IX to be used by the locals.
The workshops aim to create an opportunity for the locals to enhance the community house’s outside environment. To prepare for the building workshops, we will host a planning and ideas meeting to get to know the available materials and create a plan for the following days. The physical outcomes will be modular furniture from palettes and a shading system, while the participants have creative and artistic freedom. ETP Slovakia has a long-term collaboration with artists, also creating textile designs, murals, and sculptures in public spaces. The workshop week will end with a community event with a presentation of the process and results (in the form of an animation) and a movie screening on an empty outside wall of the community house. The workshops are open for individuals from the local community of Luník IX, with their participation being completely free and flexible (people can join only for the parts they want to join).
Additionally, we will invite smaller groups to collaborate with the community of ETP, such as students from a university in Košice and seniors. This collaboration will allow these groups to interact positively and build together. All the physical outcomes of the workshops will remain at Luník IX to be used by the locals.
Community Engagement
Co-Design
Skill-Building
Public Space Activation
Creative Collaboration
The Luník CoLab is a series of workshops at the ETP community house at Luník IX. The goal is to improve the space outside the ETP Slovakia community centre. The project is sustainable on two levels: the materials used for its implementation and its longevity and impact.
The workshops' planned outcomes include a shading system, modular furniture, and a community event. The materials for these workshops will be sustainably sourced, second-hand, donated, or otherwise recycled, ensuring their quality to maximise usability and lifespan while minimising environmental impact. For instance, retired wooden pallets will be repurposed to create modular furniture and second-hand fabrics will be used for the shading system.
These physical outcomes will help the residents of Luník IX cope with the summer heatwaves, which often exceed 35 degrees Celsius. The shading system will create an outdoor area where people can find refuge from the sun and help lower the temperature inside the ETP community house. The movable modular furniture will provide outdoor seating, allowing for various gatherings and serving as a flexible space for community events, thereby fostering connections among residents.
The skills participants will gain through this project are an essential aspect of sustainability. They will learn to work with sourced materials while acquiring new skills, building confidence, understanding teamwork and project planning, and establishing connections within and beyond their community.
The workshop results will remain in Luník IX for the local community's use. Since community members are actively involved in the creation process, they will also learn how to build and repair these objects if necessary.
The workshops' planned outcomes include a shading system, modular furniture, and a community event. The materials for these workshops will be sustainably sourced, second-hand, donated, or otherwise recycled, ensuring their quality to maximise usability and lifespan while minimising environmental impact. For instance, retired wooden pallets will be repurposed to create modular furniture and second-hand fabrics will be used for the shading system.
These physical outcomes will help the residents of Luník IX cope with the summer heatwaves, which often exceed 35 degrees Celsius. The shading system will create an outdoor area where people can find refuge from the sun and help lower the temperature inside the ETP community house. The movable modular furniture will provide outdoor seating, allowing for various gatherings and serving as a flexible space for community events, thereby fostering connections among residents.
The skills participants will gain through this project are an essential aspect of sustainability. They will learn to work with sourced materials while acquiring new skills, building confidence, understanding teamwork and project planning, and establishing connections within and beyond their community.
The workshop results will remain in Luník IX for the local community's use. Since community members are actively involved in the creation process, they will also learn how to build and repair these objects if necessary.
The aesthetic dimension of this project is centered on creative freedom, allowing workshop participants to design and shape the physical outcomes—modular furniture and a shading system—using the available materials.
Luník IX, as a segregated community, is often viewed through a lens of prejudice by the majority population. By enhancing the visual and functional quality of shared spaces, the project challenges these perceptions and fosters a sense of pride and ownership among residents. Additionally, collaboration with majority groups from Košice facilitates a cultural exchange that connects otherwise separated communities, promoting mutual understanding.
Throughout the week, a stop-motion animation will document the entire workshop process, visually capturing the transformation of public space and community engagement. This artistic approach enhances the aesthetic impact of Luník CoLab and culminates in a public screening, turning an empty wall into a cultural focal point that fosters collective experience and dialogue. The final community event showcases participants’ work, encourages informal interactions, and celebrates their achievements, while the creative and practical skills gained through the project have the potential to inspire future collaborations and empower participants beyond the workshop.
Luník IX, as a segregated community, is often viewed through a lens of prejudice by the majority population. By enhancing the visual and functional quality of shared spaces, the project challenges these perceptions and fosters a sense of pride and ownership among residents. Additionally, collaboration with majority groups from Košice facilitates a cultural exchange that connects otherwise separated communities, promoting mutual understanding.
Throughout the week, a stop-motion animation will document the entire workshop process, visually capturing the transformation of public space and community engagement. This artistic approach enhances the aesthetic impact of Luník CoLab and culminates in a public screening, turning an empty wall into a cultural focal point that fosters collective experience and dialogue. The final community event showcases participants’ work, encourages informal interactions, and celebrates their achievements, while the creative and practical skills gained through the project have the potential to inspire future collaborations and empower participants beyond the workshop.
The inclusiveness of this project begins with its target group: the Roma community living at Luník IX. This community faces not only physical segregation—being pushed to the city's periphery—but also systemic exclusion from education, employment, and healthcare. The project addresses these barriers by creating a space where participants can collectively shape their environment. Through hands-on workshops held at the ETP community house—an organization with strong local ties, particularly with Roma youth—participants gain both practical skills and a sense of agency over their surroundings.
A key element of inclusion is the use of animation as a storytelling tool. Throughout the workshop week, visual materials will be collected and transformed into an animation that captures the process and outcomes. This serves as a medium for participants to share their experiences, perspectives, and creativity with a wider audience, including those who did not attend the workshops.
Beyond the Roma community, the project fosters meaningful interactions between different participants. By bringing together Roma residents and individuals from the majority population (university students or seniors) the collaborative workshops create an environment for dialogue and shared creation.
The project is designed to be fully accessible and flexible. Participation is free, and individuals can join at any stage, ensuring that barriers related to time commitment or prior experience do not prevent involvement. The final community event—featuring the unveiling of the built elements and the animation screening—further extends the project’s inclusivity by inviting the broader public to engage with the space and stories behind it.
By providing a platform for co-creation, skill-building, and cross-community collaboration, this project exemplifies how design can be used as a tool for social inclusion, fostering long-term engagement and positive change in a historically marginalized area.
A key element of inclusion is the use of animation as a storytelling tool. Throughout the workshop week, visual materials will be collected and transformed into an animation that captures the process and outcomes. This serves as a medium for participants to share their experiences, perspectives, and creativity with a wider audience, including those who did not attend the workshops.
Beyond the Roma community, the project fosters meaningful interactions between different participants. By bringing together Roma residents and individuals from the majority population (university students or seniors) the collaborative workshops create an environment for dialogue and shared creation.
The project is designed to be fully accessible and flexible. Participation is free, and individuals can join at any stage, ensuring that barriers related to time commitment or prior experience do not prevent involvement. The final community event—featuring the unveiling of the built elements and the animation screening—further extends the project’s inclusivity by inviting the broader public to engage with the space and stories behind it.
By providing a platform for co-creation, skill-building, and cross-community collaboration, this project exemplifies how design can be used as a tool for social inclusion, fostering long-term engagement and positive change in a historically marginalized area.
The Luník CoLab actively involves local residents and the community of ETP Slovakia, and participants joining through an open call - including students and seniors - as creators of their own space, shaping and improveing their environment. Through hands-on workshops, community members, especially young people, engage in the design and construction process, learning practical skills such as working with materials, assembling modular furniture, and creating shading systems.
The project, organised in partnership with ETP Slovakia, is based directly in Luník IX, ensuring strong local engagement. The planning phase includes collaborative discussions, during which participants share ideas and co-design solutions using available materials.
The impact of this involvement is both practical and social. Participants gain skills that can be applied beyond the project, while the physical improvements enhance shared spaces. The final event, featuring a presentation and an outdoor film screening, celebrates their efforts and reinforces the importance of collective creativity in shaping daily life.
The project, organised in partnership with ETP Slovakia, is based directly in Luník IX, ensuring strong local engagement. The planning phase includes collaborative discussions, during which participants share ideas and co-design solutions using available materials.
The impact of this involvement is both practical and social. Participants gain skills that can be applied beyond the project, while the physical improvements enhance shared spaces. The final event, featuring a presentation and an outdoor film screening, celebrates their efforts and reinforces the importance of collective creativity in shaping daily life.
Our project engages stakeholders at multiple levels to ensure a collaborative and sustainable approach.
At the local level, the project is deeply rooted in the community of Luník IX, particularly among residents actively involved in ETP Slovakia’s programs. These participants, including young people and families, play a key role in shaping their shared space through hands-on workshops. Their involvement fosters a sense of ownership, strengthens community ties, and provides practical skills. ETP Slovakia, with its long-standing presence in the area, facilitates engagement, ensuring the workshops align with local needs and aspirations.
At the regional and national level, as the social design team, we bring expertise in participatory design to the regional and national levels, guiding the process to be inclusive and impactful. Local authorities and social organisations could contribute by supporting logistics, providing access to public spaces outside the community centre, and exploring ways to sustain the project’s impact beyond the workshops.
At the European level, the project aligns with the New European Bauhaus values of sustainability, inclusion, and aesthetics. It serves as a model for co-creation in marginalised communities, demonstrating how participatory design can drive meaningful change. Engaging wider networks also opens opportunities for knowledge exchange and future collaborations.
At the local level, the project is deeply rooted in the community of Luník IX, particularly among residents actively involved in ETP Slovakia’s programs. These participants, including young people and families, play a key role in shaping their shared space through hands-on workshops. Their involvement fosters a sense of ownership, strengthens community ties, and provides practical skills. ETP Slovakia, with its long-standing presence in the area, facilitates engagement, ensuring the workshops align with local needs and aspirations.
At the regional and national level, as the social design team, we bring expertise in participatory design to the regional and national levels, guiding the process to be inclusive and impactful. Local authorities and social organisations could contribute by supporting logistics, providing access to public spaces outside the community centre, and exploring ways to sustain the project’s impact beyond the workshops.
At the European level, the project aligns with the New European Bauhaus values of sustainability, inclusion, and aesthetics. It serves as a model for co-creation in marginalised communities, demonstrating how participatory design can drive meaningful change. Engaging wider networks also opens opportunities for knowledge exchange and future collaborations.
The Luník CoLab combines expertise from multiple disciplines to create a holistic and impactful project.
Social design plays a key role in shaping the participatory approach, ensuring that the design process is inclusive, accessible, and responsive to the needs of the Luník IX community. The social design team facilitates co-creation workshops, helping residents translate their ideas into tangible improvements in their shared space.
Social work is central to the project through the involvement of ETP Slovakia, whose experience with the Roma community ensures trust-building, effective communication, and alignment with the broader social context. Their expertise helps address social and structural challenges, making participation meaningful and accessible.
Community engagement is embedded in the planning and implementation phases, ensuring that residents are not just participants but active contributors. The collaborative approach strengthens social ties and fosters long-term investment in the space.
Low-threshold services ensure participation is open to all, regardless of prior experience or skill level. The workshops are designed to be practical, hands-on, and flexible, lowering barriers to engagement and making learning accessible.
The interaction between these fields creates a unique added value: social design provides structure, social work ensures inclusivity, community engagement strengthens impact, and low-threshold services make participation accessible.
This interdisciplinary approach fosters a project that is both practical and socially meaningful.
Social design plays a key role in shaping the participatory approach, ensuring that the design process is inclusive, accessible, and responsive to the needs of the Luník IX community. The social design team facilitates co-creation workshops, helping residents translate their ideas into tangible improvements in their shared space.
Social work is central to the project through the involvement of ETP Slovakia, whose experience with the Roma community ensures trust-building, effective communication, and alignment with the broader social context. Their expertise helps address social and structural challenges, making participation meaningful and accessible.
Community engagement is embedded in the planning and implementation phases, ensuring that residents are not just participants but active contributors. The collaborative approach strengthens social ties and fosters long-term investment in the space.
Low-threshold services ensure participation is open to all, regardless of prior experience or skill level. The workshops are designed to be practical, hands-on, and flexible, lowering barriers to engagement and making learning accessible.
The interaction between these fields creates a unique added value: social design provides structure, social work ensures inclusivity, community engagement strengthens impact, and low-threshold services make participation accessible.
This interdisciplinary approach fosters a project that is both practical and socially meaningful.
The Luník CoLab implements an innovative approach by integrating multilevel empowerment into community-driven space-making. Unlike typical top-down interventions or even co-creation initiatives led by municipalities, workshops ensure that community members are not just consulted but actively engaged in the design and hands-on implementation of the new community space, creating a sense of agency and enhancing belonging.
Additionally, the project puts below-voting-age youth at the heart of the process, recognising their role as key community members whose voices and creative capacities are often overlooked in decision-making. We foster long-term ownership and engagement by involving them in shaping their physical environment.
Rather than introducing external solutions or new institutional actors, this project organically responds to immediate opportunities for local improvement. Examples include shaded gathering spaces to counteract increasing summer heat and the development of adaptable, movable furniture to facilitate flexible use of outdoor areas.
These central elements ensure that interventions are deeply embedded in local realities, making them resilient, sustainable, and socially beneficial beyond the project’s immediate duration.
Additionally, the project puts below-voting-age youth at the heart of the process, recognising their role as key community members whose voices and creative capacities are often overlooked in decision-making. We foster long-term ownership and engagement by involving them in shaping their physical environment.
Rather than introducing external solutions or new institutional actors, this project organically responds to immediate opportunities for local improvement. Examples include shaded gathering spaces to counteract increasing summer heat and the development of adaptable, movable furniture to facilitate flexible use of outdoor areas.
These central elements ensure that interventions are deeply embedded in local realities, making them resilient, sustainable, and socially beneficial beyond the project’s immediate duration.
The project follows a participatory, social-design-based co-creation approach embedded within the existing structure of the ETP summer school, which is an annual event since 2017, usually consisting of a week of workshops including interns, volunteers and invited lecturers, also from abroad. The core schedule of our project allows for a structured yet flexible multi-day process with a core group of local youth while keeping the workshops open for spontaneous participation from other community members.
Key aspects of our methodology include:
Stakeholder-led design: The space design phase is exclusively shaped by Luník IX residents, ensuring that decisions emerge from within the community rather than being externally imposed. The participants are empowered to identify themselves as experts in their lived reality.
Facilitated implementation: Skilled workshop leaders act as enablers, guiding participants through construction processes while keeping them in creative control. This approach avoids the typical hierarchy between "experts" and "beneficiaries."
Adaptive participation: The project provides low-threshold entry points. People can join at different stages, such as brainstorming, building, or finalising elements. This approach considers the various resources of different community members. For example, parents might have unique viewpoints on community needs but can only join for an afternoon due to care work responsibilities.
Hands-on, practical learning: Participants develop tangible skills in construction, material reuse, and spatial design, making the process both empowering and transferable to future self-led projects.
This combination of community-driven design, flexible participation, and skill-building.
Key aspects of our methodology include:
Stakeholder-led design: The space design phase is exclusively shaped by Luník IX residents, ensuring that decisions emerge from within the community rather than being externally imposed. The participants are empowered to identify themselves as experts in their lived reality.
Facilitated implementation: Skilled workshop leaders act as enablers, guiding participants through construction processes while keeping them in creative control. This approach avoids the typical hierarchy between "experts" and "beneficiaries."
Adaptive participation: The project provides low-threshold entry points. People can join at different stages, such as brainstorming, building, or finalising elements. This approach considers the various resources of different community members. For example, parents might have unique viewpoints on community needs but can only join for an afternoon due to care work responsibilities.
Hands-on, practical learning: Participants develop tangible skills in construction, material reuse, and spatial design, making the process both empowering and transferable to future self-led projects.
This combination of community-driven design, flexible participation, and skill-building.
The core workshop structure is highly adaptable and can be replicated in any community with an existing or determined physical gathering space, such as a community centre, schoolyard, or informal public area.
Key transferable elements include:
The co-creation framework involves engaging local stakeholders in a future-oriented reflection of their lived reality, visioning, designing, and building their space to foster long-term ownership and belonging.
Scalability and material flexibility: The process works with whatever resources are available, whether low-budget, donated, or recycled materials. While residents at Luník IX have repeatedly proven this resourcefulness, its restrictiveness can enhance the creative process by allowing for focus.
Youth empowerment: The project is particularly impactful for youth in the digital age, offering them an unusual and empowering experience of physical creation. They gain practical skills and confidence to raise ideas and actively shape change by transforming abstract ideas into tangible improvements in their daily environment.
Cross-community learning: The workshop format provides a low-barrier opportunity for exchange between different communities. Neighbours are invited to support the realisation of the community space plan, allowing workshop participants to connect across social or geographic divides.
Key transferable elements include:
The co-creation framework involves engaging local stakeholders in a future-oriented reflection of their lived reality, visioning, designing, and building their space to foster long-term ownership and belonging.
Scalability and material flexibility: The process works with whatever resources are available, whether low-budget, donated, or recycled materials. While residents at Luník IX have repeatedly proven this resourcefulness, its restrictiveness can enhance the creative process by allowing for focus.
Youth empowerment: The project is particularly impactful for youth in the digital age, offering them an unusual and empowering experience of physical creation. They gain practical skills and confidence to raise ideas and actively shape change by transforming abstract ideas into tangible improvements in their daily environment.
Cross-community learning: The workshop format provides a low-barrier opportunity for exchange between different communities. Neighbours are invited to support the realisation of the community space plan, allowing workshop participants to connect across social or geographic divides.
Lunik CoLab tackles urgent global challenges by implementing local, community-driven solutions:
1. Climate crisis – Urban heat adaptation:
Self-built shade structures help relieve heat in an environment characterised by concrete, little trees and almost no natural shade.
2. Social segregation and exclusion:
By making Roma residents the central agents of transformation, the project shifts the narrative from "helping a marginalised group" to "empowering and assisting them to lead their own solutions."
Inviting external participants to participate in implementation creates a shared, hands-on experience that organically breaks down social barriers.
3. Loss of connection to craftsmanship and material agency:
In an age of increasing digitalisation, the project reintroduces hands-on making as a tool for self-expression and empowerment.
Young participants develop practical skills that connect them to their environment and one another.
Addressing these global challenges through a locally rooted, participatory process, the project demonstrates how small-scale interventions can contribute to a movement toward systemic change in urban resilience, social inclusion, and community empowerment.
1. Climate crisis – Urban heat adaptation:
Self-built shade structures help relieve heat in an environment characterised by concrete, little trees and almost no natural shade.
2. Social segregation and exclusion:
By making Roma residents the central agents of transformation, the project shifts the narrative from "helping a marginalised group" to "empowering and assisting them to lead their own solutions."
Inviting external participants to participate in implementation creates a shared, hands-on experience that organically breaks down social barriers.
3. Loss of connection to craftsmanship and material agency:
In an age of increasing digitalisation, the project reintroduces hands-on making as a tool for self-expression and empowerment.
Young participants develop practical skills that connect them to their environment and one another.
Addressing these global challenges through a locally rooted, participatory process, the project demonstrates how small-scale interventions can contribute to a movement toward systemic change in urban resilience, social inclusion, and community empowerment.
As previously mentioned, the Barriered Beginnings master project conducted in 2024 serves as a theoretical background to the topic of segregation that Roma people face in Slovakia. The Luník CoLab is a practical next step of the project, serving as an on-site continuation of the project.
Timeline
Preparation (the month before)
Call for Participants & Volunteers
Open invitation for Luník IX residents (youth, elderly, parents) to participate in workshops and co-design sessions
Engagement with local students, the elderly, and neighbours to contribute time and expertise
Material Sourcing & Logistics
Identify and procure locally available materials (wood, textiles, etc.)
Coordination with suppliers, makerspaces, and recycling centers for sustainable material sourcing
Securing tools and ensuring safety equipment is available
Technical & Spatial Planning
Mapping the intervention site in collaboration with ETP and community representatives
Pre-assessing structural feasibility for shade structures and furniture, involving a professional
Storytelling & Documentation Setup
Preparing for the stop-motion documentation process
Creating a simple guide for participants to capture their experiences and input
Luník CoLab Workshops - approximately end of August 2025
Day 1: Community engagement & ideation
Workshops with residents (youth, elderly, parents) to refine needs and concepts
Site and material analysis
Day 2: Building phase 1 – Shade & cooling infrastructure
Construction of lightweight shade structures
Introduction to stop motion film making
Day 3: Building phase 2 – Multifunctional furniture
Assembly of mobile tables, benches, and play elements
Testing modularity and flexibility
Day 4: Bringing it together
Last assembly, painting of constructed parts
Playing around with arrangements
Finalization of stop-motion film
Day 5: Community activation & Happening
Finalizing installations
Public event with a screening of the stop motion process video
Timeline
Preparation (the month before)
Call for Participants & Volunteers
Open invitation for Luník IX residents (youth, elderly, parents) to participate in workshops and co-design sessions
Engagement with local students, the elderly, and neighbours to contribute time and expertise
Material Sourcing & Logistics
Identify and procure locally available materials (wood, textiles, etc.)
Coordination with suppliers, makerspaces, and recycling centers for sustainable material sourcing
Securing tools and ensuring safety equipment is available
Technical & Spatial Planning
Mapping the intervention site in collaboration with ETP and community representatives
Pre-assessing structural feasibility for shade structures and furniture, involving a professional
Storytelling & Documentation Setup
Preparing for the stop-motion documentation process
Creating a simple guide for participants to capture their experiences and input
Luník CoLab Workshops - approximately end of August 2025
Day 1: Community engagement & ideation
Workshops with residents (youth, elderly, parents) to refine needs and concepts
Site and material analysis
Day 2: Building phase 1 – Shade & cooling infrastructure
Construction of lightweight shade structures
Introduction to stop motion film making
Day 3: Building phase 2 – Multifunctional furniture
Assembly of mobile tables, benches, and play elements
Testing modularity and flexibility
Day 4: Bringing it together
Last assembly, painting of constructed parts
Playing around with arrangements
Finalization of stop-motion film
Day 5: Community activation & Happening
Finalizing installations
Public event with a screening of the stop motion process video
