Pratt Public Sphere: A Living Laboratory for Sustainability and Community Resilience
"The Pratt Public Sphere is an ongoing research and action-based initiative advancing sustainability, climate justice, and community resilience through spatial experimentation and transdisciplinary pedagogy. Housed within a 20-foot geodesic dome, the project operates as a flexible, mixed-use classroom and civic platform embedded within the urban fabric of New York City.
Originally installed outside Dekalb Hall in November 2022, the dome has evolved into a living laboratory for applied ecological practice. Developed in dialogue with artist Mary Mattingly’s civic engagement framework and expanded through the thesis work of Daniel Pravit Fethke (MFA Fine Arts, Integrated Practices ’23), the structure continues to support collaborative research at the intersection of art, design, and environmental systems.
Each semester, the Pratt Public Sphere hosts student-led geodesic dome build studios from the courses of MSCI-271 Ecology of Architects, SES-631 Sustainable Communities, MSCI-411P Resilience Thinking, SSWI-222G
Making/Faking Nature and MSCI-451/651 Climate Change & Communities run by Professors Rafael de Balanzo Joue, Enrique Lanz and Darini Nicholas , where participants prototype rainproofing systems, solar protection strategies, and low-impact material assemblies. Beyond construction, the dome functions as a platform for community-based programming, including resilience-thinking workshops, walkshops, mutual-aid initiatives, food justice gatherings, and interdisciplinary dialogues among artists, architects, designers, and environmental practitioners.
The project positions the dome as both symbolic and operational infrastructure. Drawing on Indigenous spatial traditions and the experimental legacy of Buckminster Fuller’s deployable housing models, the structure is recontextualized as a contemporary civic prototype: lightweight, collaborative, and adaptable. In contrast to the scale and rigidity of much of New York City’s built environment, the dome foregrounds flexibility, collective authorship, and ecological responsiveness.
As a research platform, the Pratt Public Sphere investigates how temporary, low-cost spatial interventions can catalyze long-term cultural and environmental change. It fosters systems thinking, supports cross-disciplinary collaboration, and enables students and community members to co-create actionable responses to climate and social challenges.
At its core, the project asks: how can creative education move beyond awareness to activate resilience in practice? By integrating making, dialogue, and mutual aid within a shared space, the Pratt Public Sphere models an educational ecosystem where sustainability is not only taught—but collectively enacted."
