Practice

Studio dmau is a studio for urbanism, public space design and research, founded in 2012 by Daryl Mulvihill. The studio works from the position that public spaces are the spaces we share our common grounds, as such they need to be created in an open and collaborative processes. Our work develops both the spaces themselves and the processes, working as an advocate for communities and groups so their voices are heard. The practice develops projects across all urban scales from: neighbourhood transformation studies and spatial justice initiatives to detail design of playscapes, schoolyards, community parks.

The studio brings together public space design, participatory research, and documentary film as a single integrated practice. Film and photography are integral to the methodology: tools for observing how cities and places work.

The relationship between people and their environment is a central concern of the work. The studio's playscapes and neighbourhood projects treat ecology and public life as inseparable, creating open-ended, living spaces that change with the seasons and offer people a genuine encounter with the natural world.

Research and teaching run alongside the design practice. Daryl Mulvihill is a lecturer at TU Eindhoven, where he co-ordinates the Theory and Practice of the Public Realm, a Masters Studio in Urban Housing, and the Bachelor introduction to Urbanism. He has taught at the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture and lectured internationally as a visiting critic and guest lecturer.

The studio's work has been published internationally in A+U Magazine, Forum Magazine, Monocle, Domus, and C3.

We observe the characteristics of a place, it’s patterns of use, the rhythm of its daily life. We use both photography and film alongside traditional fieldwork techniques of mapping and drawing. Filmmaking is integral to the way we capture, understand and visually communicate how cities and places work.

Our working process follows four-steps:

Observe - Research - Engage - Design

We research to understand the latest challenges cities, urban areas and their communities are facing. Investigating themes such as spatial justice, participation methods and use and users of the public realm. Research work is linked with the courses TU Eindhoven and Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam

We engage and listen to the local communities in the places where we work. Urban research and public engagement go hand in hand to develop context aware solutions to the latest challenges for urban areas and their communities.

We design based on a clear brief defined with our clients and communities. Our focus is on creating high quality people-centred public spaces. Over the past years we have realised a number of playscapes in the Netherlands where play is integrated into every aspect of the design.