AA Housing and Urbanism graduate Katsushi Goto is a member of a UK team from SqW:Lab to win a competition titled ‘Dining in the Urban’. The competition, led by researchers at TU Delft Faculty of Architecture, sought concepts for a public dining installation in Mother Teresa Park, Skopje.

The SqW:Lab competition entry plays with the idea of absence, and the way that ritual imbues the material world with the memory of commensality and togetherness.

‘As you pass the courtyard you see a public dining room, a mass of table and chairs, no one is there, yet you know what has taken place. A sea of voices, laughter and debates fill your imagination.’

‘The project reveals how everyday rituals such as dining are embedded in everyday objects such as furniture. The project creates a temporary performative space; the tables and chairs are props for the act of dining to take place; the performance reveals diversity and knowledge. The conscious decision to design individual tables which together create a whole explores form and its role in creating an inclusive environment.’

Read more about the competition