Storybuilding Atlanthos

The core concept of this creative teen camp that used storytelling as a design technology was conceived by Jazz Groden-Gilchrist of Ethos Lab and led by the Black and Indigenous Design Collective.

Atlanthos, once an isolationist nation, is a high tech underwater nation that is a wonderful mix of technology and magic. It was pulled through a portal from its homeworld, Earth, and into a new world where they were forced to adapt. Ethos Lab now seeks to make this world a more connected, safer, and sustainable place for the diaspora that live here. They create technology, lead and participate in diplomatic communication, and are well prepared to face and overcome the natural dangers of the world.

Atlanthos has a city called Apeso that was built to host migrants of different civilizations as a symbol of peace between nations. Every time a significant population of a civilization decides to move to Apeso, they build a neighbourhood for them to give them a sense of home away from home.

In Storybuilding Atlanthos campers act as urban designers from surface civilizations that are all preparing for the eventual risk of rising waters. As a pilot program for determining what life could be like underwater, they are given the task of designing a city block within Apeso that would be their happy place – an idealistic example of what a joyful future could look like while adapting to the realities architects and urban planners face with climate change and sea-level rise. The big question, connected to the experience of the diaspora and the transfer of loss and maintaining connection, was how do you transfer what's important from your home into your new environment, your new home? What are your values?