Virtual Design Festival

Migrant's Bureau reveals manifesto for new generation of architects at Virtual Design Festival

In the third and final part of Virtual Design Festival's collaboration with the London Festival of Architecture, social design and urbanism practice Migrant's Bureau reveals its manifesto for a new generation.

Migrant's Bureau's work facilitates design interventions, research, podcasts and community workshops for disenfranchised and migrant communities.

In its manifesto for London Festival of Architecture, Migrant's Bureau describes how it sees the next generation as multifaceted, cross-collaborative, caring, political and inclusive.

Migrant's Bureau for VDF and LFA
Migrant's Bureau hosts workshops and design interventions

"When we first emerged, we recognised the missing link within our respective design industries that only told a single narrative and presented this as a default for all communities to adhere to," Migrant's Bureau director Alisha Fisher said.

"With our knowledge, diversity and the digital community of the Migrant's Bureau team, we are able to translate these narratives that communities can choose to relate [to], foster and create with."

Migrant's Bureau for VDF and LFA
Supper clubs function as an intimate space to share knowledge

The studio's past projects include design interventions, community workshops, and even supper clubs.

"After attending panel discussions and lectures, we decided we'd like a more intimate space to share knowledge and somewhere where you could do this over the process of sharing food," team member Rufus Shakespeare explained.

"It became a space of mutual aid and skill-sharing between collectives and grassroots organisations."

Migrant's Bureau was nominated by architect, project manager and quality assurance champion Yẹmí Aládérun.

"Migrant's Bureau research, curate and design urban interventions within cities, communities & trans-local environments," Aládérun said.

"They seek to interpret the migratory experiences of everyday life, recognising the influence that culture, geography and social circumstances have on lived experiences of the city and its architecture."


Manifestos: Architecture for a New Generation is an annual collaboration between London Festival of Architecture and the Design Museum. It aims to highlight work by an emerging generation of voices in architecture who are expanding the parameters of what architecture can be, who London is for and what its future holds.