Lara Lesmes
Lecturer
Lara Lesmes is an architectural designer and educator. Together with Fredrik Hellberg she directs the company Space Popular Ltd., and an MArch studio at University of Toronto's Daniels School. She graduated from the Architectural Association in 2011 after which she joined the international architecture program INDA in Bangkok as Adjunct Professor, Second Year Coordinator and Lecture Coordinator between 2011 and 2016. At INDA she also founded the academic research unit Tools for Architecture together with Fredrik Hellberg. Between 2016 - 2021 they led M.Arch and undergraduate studio at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London developing design methodologies for virtual architecture. Lesmes continued exploring this area of work at John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture Landscape and Design at The University of Toronto as visiting professors from 2020 to 2022 when she joined UCLA Architecture and Urban Design in Los Angeles as visiting professor.
In 2013 Lesmes and Hellberg started the multidisciplinary design and research practice Space Popular. The practice works across the physical and virtual realms, with several built projects and numerous exhibitions in Asia and Europe. They have worked for private clients as well as public institutions, exhibited in numerous group shows as well as solo exhibitions at ArkDes (Sweden's National Centre for Architecture and Design) in 2018, Gallery Magazin (Vienna, Austria) in 2018, Sto Werkstatt gallery (London, UK) in 2017, Royal Institute of British Architects (London, UK) in 2020, Sir John Soane Museum (London, UK) in and MAXXi (Rome, Italy) in 2022.
Education
| MArch, Architectural Association |
| BArch, Architectural Association |