We Have to Reimagine Our World | Architect Indy Johar | Louisiana Channel

“Command and control is no longer efficient.”

We met Indy Johar, co-founder of Dark Matter Labs and one of the most interesting innovators of contemporary architecture.

“I could see the role of architecture wasn't about architecture. It was about unlocking the capacity of being human.”

“What we started to realize was the implied world we see around us. So physically, you could pretty much look at everything around us and see behind it—all the code that constructs it. And to change the world that we need to change, you have to recode all that code. Whether it's ownership, materiality, standards, or how we own materials, all these are codes. Let’s reimagine.”

“Democracy in the 21st century is not just the vote. It's about our capacity to bring society together, and that requires new forms of organizing, which I think are now available to us.”

Indy Johar was born in Acton, West London, and has lived there his whole life. He is an RIBA-registered architect, serial social entrepreneur, and Good Growth Advisor to the Mayor of London. Indy is focused on the strategic design of new super-scale civic assets for transition, specifically at the intersection of financing, contracting, and governance for deeply democratic futures.

Indy is a co-founder of Dark Matter Labs and of the RIBA award-winning architecture and urban practice Architecture00. He is also a founding director of Open Systems Lab, seeded WikiHouse (open source housing), and Open Desk (open source furniture company). Indy is a non-executive International Director of the BloxHub in Copenhagen, the Nordic Hub for sustainable urbanization. He is on the advisory board for the Future Observatory and is part of the committee for the London Festival of Architecture. He is also a fellow of the London Interdisciplinary School.

Indy was 2016-17 Graham Willis Visiting Professorship at Sheffield University. He was Studio Master at the Architectural Association in 2019-2020 UNDP Innovation Facility Advisory Board Member from 2016-20 and RIBA Trustee 2017-20. He has taught & lectured at various institutions, including the University of Bath, TU-Berlin; University College London, Princeton, Harvard, MI and New School. Indy is a Professor at RMIT University. He was awarded the London Design Medal for Innovation in 2022 and an MBE for Services to Architecture in 2023.

Indy Johar was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner in April 2024. The recording took place in connection with the conference FABRICATE 2024, hosted at CITA, Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen.

Camera: Jarl Therkelsen Kaldan
Edited by: Jarl Therkelsen Kaldan
Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner
Copyright: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2024

Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet and C.L. Davids Fond og Samling. This film is supported by Dreyersfond and Fritz Hansen.

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