sirota@akoaki.com farges@akoaki.com
Facebook Instagram
Akoaki is a design studio working across architecture, scenography, installation, and urban design. Our projects explore the intersection of public space and cultural infrastructure, focusing on creating environments that engage, provoke, and invite participation. Each project is rooted in its context, balancing the practical and the imaginative to challenge conventional ideas about architecture and urban life.
Founded in 2008, Akoaki works at a range of scales and settings, from temporary installations to long-term urban strategies. Our process is collaborative and adaptive, shaped by the unique conditions of each site and community. The studio’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Vitra Design Museum, Saint Etienne Design Biennale, and Chicago Cultural Center, and has received recognition such as the Architecture League Prize, the SXSW Eco Place by Design Award, and the Araldo Cossutta Prize.
Anya Sirota is an architectural designer, researcher, and educator. Her work, situated at the intersection of architecture and urban design, explores how a distinct synthesis of aesthetics, social enterprise, and cultural programming can offer experimental strategies for equitable urban transformation. In parallel to her practice, Sirota is an associate professor and associate dean at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Sirota holds a degree from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and BA in Modern Culture and Media from Brown University.
Jean Louis Farges is a self-taught critical ethnomusicologist whose design approach deliberately challenges cultural expectations, blending disciplines and testing assumptions to unearth new possibilities. His experience spans project management, building technology, and design research, underpinned by a steady focus on cultural observation. Before relocating to the United States, Farges worked as a photographer in Paris, France, where he developed his attention to the nuances of urban life and its intersections with culture.