The Ground We Walk On
Exhibition concept for the Designathon 2026 competetion.
Second place winner!
Client:
2026 Designathon Competition
Category:
Marketing, UI, 3D modeling, Conceptual Design, Figma
COLLABORATORS:
Mae Lai, Kabin Ravichandran
The prompt
The Designathon is a 40 hour design competetion open to all design majors at York University.The Designathon theme was "trace elements", and my group and I interpreted it through the lens of soil. Soil is the physical foundation of communities and something we interact with every day, but we rarely stop to think
about it.
The prompt
The Designathon is a 40 hour design competetion open to all design majors at York University. The 2026 theme was "trace elements", and my group and I interpreted it through the lens of soil. Soil is the physical foundation of communities and something we interact with every day, but we rarely stop to think about it.
The Designathon is a 40 hour design competetion open to all design majors at York University. The 2026 theme was "trace elements", and my group and I interpreted it through the lens of soil. Soil is the physical foundation of communities and something we interact with every day, but we rarely stop to think
about it.
The exhibition features an interactive space where visitors are invited to walk on the soil taken from the Kensington neighborhood. They are welcome to plant their tickets, which are made of biodegradable seed paper, to leave a trace of themselves in the soil. Visitors can also write down their personal experiences that happened in the neighborhood and pin them to the walls of the exhibition.
The exhibition features an interactive space where visitors are invited to walk on the soil taken from the Kensington neighborhood. They are welcome to plant their tickets, which are made of biodegradable seed paper, to leave a trace of themselves in the soil. Visitors can also write down their personal experiences that happened in the neighborhood and pin them to the walls of the exhibition.
The website provides basic information about the exhibition and how to participate.
The website provides basic information about the exhibition and how to participate.
This 9.5' x 3.5' ticket made out of biodegradable seed paper is used in gaining admission to the installation exhibit while playing a role in the installation’s interactivity
This 9.5' x 3.5' ticket made out of biodegradable seed paper is used in gaining admission to the installation exhibit while playing a role in the installation’s interactivity
The 20' x 30' poster promotes the event to Toronto residents who are curious about the community and is made of biodegradable materials
We wanted to bring this overlooked aspect of urban life into the spotlight, using it as an avenue to amplify and collect the often-fleeting memories that ground immigrant communities in the land they are built on. Our goal is to gather, amplify, and record memories from throughout Kensington, drawing attention to the communal history created upon the soil and the marks the community leaves on it in turn.
This 9.5' x 3.5' ticket made out of biodegradable seed paper is used in gaining admission to the installation exhibit while playing a role in the installation’s interactivity
The 20' x 30' poster promotes the event to Toronto residents who are curious about the community and is made of biodegradable materials
We wanted to bring this overlooked aspect of urban life into the spotlight, using it as an avenue to amplify and collect the often-fleeting memories that ground immigrant communities in the land they are built on. Our goal is to gather, amplify, and record memories from throughout Kensington, drawing attention to the communal history created upon the soil and the marks the community leaves on it in turn.