A cosmic playground of imagination unfolded at MPavilion 2025. In We Are Stardust, families co-created speculative creatures and worlds through AI, gaming engines, and playful design prompts, transforming public space into a site of collective world-building.

We Are Stardust reimagines media architecture as a participatory, transmedial practice. Hosted at MPavilion 2025 and developed with the IFL-STARDUST team, the project brought children, parents, and communities into an intergenerational workshop where design, technology, and storytelling converged. Participants explored how text, image, and virtual space could be combined to generate co-authored architectures and cosmic environments. Using AI systems and gaming platforms, families collaboratively built speculative worlds, demonstrating that architectural imagination can be shared across ages and backgrounds. The project blurred boundaries between architecture, artificial intelligence, and gaming, positioning media technologies not as specialist tools but as accessible civic infrastructures for imagination. By engaging participants in playful co-creation, We Are Stardust revealed how media architecture can expand beyond façades and screens into hybrid cultural practices that reshape how we design, narrate, and experience reality together. Research and Workshop Leader: Vei Tan Immersive Futures Lab-STARDUST Team Members: Adithya Lal, Anna Quach, Jackson Le, Keira McLaverty, Kevin Williams, Lynn Gonsalves, Rachelle Yeoh, Vei Tan, Patrick Macasaet and Ezra Macasaet.

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Details

Building or project owner : SUPERSCALE with RMIT AUD Immersive Futures Lab

Project sponsor/ support : MPavilion

Descriptions

Participatory architecture & urban interaction

Community or communities involved : Families, children, and intergenerational participants at MPavilion 2025. The workshop invited broad public engagement, encouraging both architectural novices and enthusiasts to take part in collaborative design.

Host organization : Naomi Milgrom Foundation. MPavilion. Developed with the RMIT AUD Immersive Futures Lab.

Legal form : Workshop event within the MPavilion 2025, Building Blocks program.

Issues addressed : The project highlights the importance of accessibility in emerging technologies such as AI and gaming, particularly within the realm of architectural imagination. By removing barriers to these tools, we create opportunities for broader communities to engage with design in new, playful, and speculative ways. A key aim of the project is the democratisation of design tools across generations and backgrounds. By positioning children, parents, and families as active participants, the project challenges traditional notions of who gets to design and how, expanding access to tools that are often reserved for experts. The project also expands the idea of civic participation to include cultural imagination and speculative futures. It reframes media architecture as not only concerned with the physical city but also with the shared imaginative spaces where communities collectively envi

Impact : The workshop enabled families to actively co-create architectural and speculative worlds, giving participants a direct role in shaping media-architectural outcomes through play and collaboration. It reframed AI and gaming as cultural and civic tools rather than being limited to entertainment or expert use. By doing so, it shifted perceptions of these technologies as everyday instruments of shared creativity. The project opened a public conversation about how future cities and environments can be collectively imagined. By engaging diverse communities, it positioned architectural imagination as a civic act accessible to all. Finally, We Are Stardust offered a replicable model for participatory media architecture workshops that can be applied in other cultural or civic contexts, from libraries and museums to schools and festivals.

Tools developed : The project developed a collaborative AI and gaming workflow specifically designed for intergenerational co-creation. This workflow allowed families to meaningfully contribute to design outcomes regardless of prior experience with the technologies. It also produced a set of participatory prompts and design methods that bridged text, image, and virtual space, enabling communities to generate co-authored worlds through simple, accessible interactions.

Tools used : AI image and text generators were employed, including Lumalabs Genie, to enable participants to quickly create speculative imagery and ideas. Gaming engines, particularly Unreal Engine, were used for world-building and navigation, allowing participants to enter and explore immersive environments in real time. Live facilitation tools and participatory workshop methods supported the collaborative process, ensuring accessibility and engagement across ages and backgrounds.

Next steps : Future work includes the development of the participatory AI and gaming toolkit for use in schools, museums, and civic institutions, broadening the accessibility of these methods in educational and cultural contexts. There are also plans to expand We Are Stardust into other contexts such as libraries, festivals, and design studios, positioning it as a portable and adaptable model for participatory media architecture. Finally, the project will be integrated into broader research on how communities engage with speculative futures through architecture and media, advancing discourse on the civic role of design imagination.

Mediacredits

SUPERSCALE

SUPERSCALE

SUPERSCALE

Ezra Macasaet

Workshop Participant

Workshop Participant

Workshop Participant