These are some of the questions running through the work of Amber Zhang, a spatial designer and ephemeral architect born in China in 1997 and now based in Barcelona. At CC/magazine, we spoke to her to discover her distinctive way of understanding design, architecture and public space as territories for experimentation and encounter.

Zhang is one of the founders of Naked Space, an international experimental art and design collective focused on soft architecture, pneumatic structures and the dynamics of collective gathering. Its practice moves freely between disciplines and formats, giving rise to installations and experiences in which space takes on both a sensory and a social dimension. In this conversation, we reflect on the need to reclaim places where we can come together, the meaning of the collective, sustainability, cultural diversity and an architecture that only truly comes into its own when people begin to inhabit it.

Naked Space describes itself as ‘a collective of multidisciplinary creatives’ and ‘a space without a defined physical form’. How did this idea come about, and what does it mean in your day-to-day practice today?

When we founded Naked Space, describing ourselves as ‘a collective of multidisciplinary creatives’ reflected a fairly utopian ambition. Over time, Naked Space has developed its own artistic language, although the way we work has remained deliberately open. Each project brings together a different combination of artists, engineers, performers, fabricators, researchers and curators.

Today, we are a little more cautious about using the word ‘collective’. It is a term that is used constantly but rarely defined. For us, it is something that needs to be put into practice and continuously reconsidered.

I often think about campfires. Before institutions, or even architecture, existed, people gathered around a source of warmth, light, food or stories. That is probably the definition that best represents our idea of a collective today: not a permanent group, but a temporary gathering that forms around a shared focus of attention.

In your manifesto, you talk about creating empathy between human beings and space. How can design help us reconnect with ourselves and with others in an increasingly fragmented world?

It is one of our earliest manifestos. I think its essence still holds true, although its language now feels a little naïve to me. What we were trying to express was that design is not simply about giving form to things, but also about influencing the way we relate to ourselves, to others and to our surroundings.

I still believe that. However, I now understand empathy less as something we can design and more as something we can allow to emerge. When a space invites people to slow down and become more aware of their own presence, they also begin to perceive the presence of those around them more naturally.

“We like spaces that leave room for interpretation rather than dictating how we should behave.”

We like spaces that leave room for interpretation rather than dictating how we should behave. They are not finished when we finish building them; they begin to come alive when people inhabit them. Their meaning does not come from the space that contains them, but from the relationships, emotions and memories that emerge within them.

Rather than designing objects, your work seems to focus on creating experiences capable of awakening emotions and new ways of relating to space. This is particularly evident in the installation for Other Circle in Copenhagen, created with Nike, where technical innovation took on an almost dreamlike, organic dimension. How did this collaboration come about, and what did you want people interacting with the installation to experience and feel?

The collaboration with Nike came about through a shared interest in exploring the concept of Air beyond its technical function. I think they saw value in our work not only because we could create a large-scale representation of their product design, but because of the way we reinterpret Air as a spatial experience.

We translated qualities such as lightness, softness and responsiveness into an immersive environment, creating a space in which people could physically and collectively experience all of those sensations.

One of the things we most enjoy observing is how quickly children understand the space. They do not need instructions: they jump, crawl, lean against it and play instinctively. It is equally beautiful to watch adults gradually let go of their everyday routines until they rediscover that same instinct.

I think we all share a kind of universal memory: the simple pleasure of discovering space through our bodies and responding to it intuitively.

“The collaboration with Nike came about through a shared interest in exploring the concept of Air beyond its technical function.”

Many of your projects blur the boundaries between art, design, architecture, performance and social practice. Do you think we still need these labels, or are these boundaries becoming less relevant?

First comes the question, then comes the medium.

Sometimes the answer takes the form of an installation; at other times, a performance, an exhibition or a workshop. The format is simply the response we consider most appropriate for each context.

Labels are still useful because they help us orient ourselves and understand the world, but they should not limit the way we think. Some of the most interesting work emerges precisely in the spaces between disciplines, where different ways of thinking begin to influence one another.

“In public space, architecture creates the possibility for unexpected encounters to take place.”

Boundaries have not ceased to be relevant; they are simply porous.

Your work often explores public space as a place for encounter and collective experience. At a time when cities are becoming increasingly commercialised and controlled, what role should creative interventions play?

Public space has always fascinated us because it is one of the few notions conceived, at least in principle, for everyone. It is where architecture transcends the built environment and becomes a social practice, creating the possibility for unexpected encounters to take place.

As our cities and everyday lives become increasingly commercialised and programmed, I think creative interventions play an important role in temporarily altering the way we experience a place.

They can disrupt our routines, spark curiosity and create forms of generosity that did not previously exist. That is where one of their greatest strengths lies: in making visible another way of being together that was, in fact, already possible.

Cultural diversity plays a fundamental role in Naked Space’s philosophy. How do each member’s background and experiences influence your creative process and the final outcome of your projects?

I think we live in a world in which people, ideas and references are constantly moving. Culture is no longer always expressed through visible symbols. It often emerges in much subtler ways, through how we think, work, communicate or approach a problem.

It is something I have experienced personally. I grew up in China, studied and worked in the United States, and now live in Barcelona. Each of those places has transformed me in a different way, not because one identity has replaced another, but because each experience has added new ways of seeing the world.

That reality naturally influences Naked Space. Each collaboration brings together people with different experiences, disciplines and cultural perspectives. We are less interested in celebrating those differences as identities in themselves than in discovering how they can enrich the creative process.

When different ways of thinking converge around a shared question, the work often leads us to places none of us could have anticipated.

Today, sustainability is discussed mainly in terms of materials and technology. Your work also seems to suggest another way of understanding it, based on relationships, emotions and shared experiences. Is that an accurate interpretation of your practice?

I think that is an accurate interpretation, although I would not separate relational sustainability from material sustainability. The two should coexist.

Our work is often criticised for its use of plastic, and I completely understand why. It is a legitimate concern. However, we have always conceived our structures as long-term systems rather than single-use objects.

Each installation is designed to be reused, repaired and adapted to different contexts. When a structure finally reaches the end of its useful life in a particular form, we creatively repurpose the material to make new products, allowing it to begin another life cycle rather than becoming waste.

At the same time, I think sustainability is also about creating experiences that have genuine value for people. If a temporary installation exists solely as an image, it can easily end up being forgotten. However, when it succeeds in creating a memory, bringing people together or transforming the way they relate to a place, its impact can extend far beyond its physical existence.

For now, I think sustainability in our practice is measured through longevity in its broadest sense: how long a material can continue to serve a purpose, and how long an experience continues to resonate after the work itself has disappeared.

“Each installation is designed to be reused, repaired and adapted to different contexts.”

Looking to the future, where is Naked Space heading? What new projects, materials or areas of research are you interested in exploring?

We will soon be taking part in a group exhibition in Barcelona, followed by another exhibition in Shanghai.

In Barcelona, we will be working with a material we have experimented with before, although we have never had the opportunity to explore it in depth. It is a chance to expand our practice beyond a single material language while continuing to ask ourselves the same questions.

We are particularly interested in materials that reveal fragility, impermanence and continuous transformation. We want to explore architecture through states of change, rather than understanding it solely through permanence.

The Shanghai exhibition represents another particularly exciting step for us. In addition to creating the installation, we will be curating the public programme together with local collaborators.

It will be an opportunity to think about the exhibition from a broader perspective and approach it as a cultural exchange capable of extending beyond the installation itself.

(*) Photographs provided by Naked Space. @makingspacepregnant @amberautumnnnn