The new year has begun with a resounding crash. On New Year’s Eve, in the streets of Rotterdam, police officers and emergency responders were chased by groups armed with fireworks, claiming public space as their own. And as the year got underway, it became clear that a number of “world leaders” are stepping things up yet again: through increasingly aggressive force, they are seeking to pull geopolitical power towards themselves. It is no coincidence that many are sounding the alarm, calling on everyone who cares about the democratic rule of law to take action—so that the rule of the strongest, both locally and globally, does not become the new normal.
SOS (...--...) is the international distress signal for wireless communication. It is also the acronym of IABR 2026: Systems of Support. A coincidence? Yes. But is it not precisely the power of designers to embrace coincidence and use it as a force to steer developments in a desired direction? As the newly appointed curator of this edition of the IABR, I gladly embrace the tension between the urgency of the distress signal and the need, in times of great strain, to remain calm and steadily continue building the shared values we so urgently need to navigate these uncertain times.
With Systems of Support, Building Shared Values, I aim to reposition architecture as a public force that creates space for shared values. A force that enables other forms of economy, forges new connections, and acts as a flywheel for the transition to a just, sustainable, and future-proof living environment. In this narrative, designers are not merely makers of solutions. They are guides who can name pain and injustice, and who use imagination to spark a desire for something better among a broad public.
I very much look forward to working closely with my fellow curators Carola Hein and Martina Muzi, and with the fantastic IABR team in the months ahead, to translate these words into an inspiring manifestation—one that invites action and understands design as a driver of collective transformative power.
