Did you know that, in addition to producing works drawing on sensory experience, geometry, climate change, sustainability, research into light and environmental issues, Olafur Eliasson is also interested in architecture, urban planning and the social space as a generator of a sense of community?

In 2014, along with architect Sebastian Behmann, Eliasson founded Studio Other Spaces (SOS), an architecture practice, research center and consulting firm connecting art and architecture in interdisciplinary experimental projects for buildings and art works for public spaces. Its headquarters share the premises of Eliasson’s studio in Berlin.

SOS is a creative center where a high number of staff members and external collaborators work together. The center’s main lines of work —sociability in public spaces, participation and co-creation in design— are reflected in some of the works, such as The Structural Evolution Project (2001), The Cubic Structural Evolution Project (2004) and The Collectivity Project (2005).

These projects require participation and people’s involvement as individuals or families, in groups, with friends… all you need is a huge table, thousands of colorful magnets or white Legos, and imagination to build your ideal city.

Little structures come to life at the pace marked by visitors, children and grown-ups alike. One visitor builds something, then another keeps this structure and adds to it, and so on. When the table is full of structures… Back to square one!

These particular works by Eliasson are shown inside or outside museums, art galleries and cultural centers. The Cubic Structural Evolution Project was recently shown at the Turbine Hall in Tate Modern, alongside Eliasson’s major exhibition in London.