Alejandro Haiek Coll at the Umeå School of Architecture receives collaboration award

Alejandro Haiek Coll.

ImageMarco Giugliarelli

In Alejandro Haiek Coll’s projects, architecture, research and civic engagement come together in everything from public installations to international exhibitions. Through his work, he has developed new forms of knowledge dissemination and sustainable meeting places.

“I am very grateful for this award. It recognises an ethos that has been at the core of the research, pedagogical and artistic practices I have been developing, particularly over the past decade at Umeå University. It also acknowledges the students, colleagues, municipalities, institutions, and other partners who have participated in these shared experiments across disciplinary boundaries and in close dialogue with society,” says Alejandro Haiek Coll.

Shown at international exhibitions

Among the projects highlighted are Winter Garden Structures, where architecture, informatics and UX Lab researchers collaborated to create interactive climate-related installations at the Arts Campus. Other examples include the VR installation Liminal Phantoms, presented at the Triennale di Milano, and Future Garden, which was presented at the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2025–2026 and brought together artistic research, molecular biology and questions of environmental justice in the Amazon.

He leads the research environment Laboratory of Intersectional Ecologies and the MA Design Studio 12, focusing this year on developing ideas of self-sufficiency and autonomy in the insular territories of Norrbyskär and Holmön in the Umeå Archipelago.

“I understand design as a form of mediation, capable of connecting people, places, evidence, materials, technologies and collective imagination. Collaboration is about creating the conditions where different forms of knowledge can become public conversations and spaces for creative exchange,” says Alejandro Haiek Coll.

Projects with the municipality

He has led several long-term collaborative projects in Umeå, including Pallet Parliament and Meadow Parklet, in collaboration with the municipality and local actors. The projects have resulted in a pollinator garden, public environments and civic forums that function as spaces for learning, culture and hospitality.

“The aim is to test how research can become public, how pedagogy can engage real territorial questions, and how design can support social, ecological and cultural systemic transformation,” says Alejandro Haiek Coll.

The award citation particularly highlights his ability to create long-term collaborations and to make research and education relevant and accessible to a broader public – both nationally and internationally.

The collaboration award is presented every two years in connection with the University’s Annual Celebration in October.