Could Be Design
Architects
Chicago and Urbana-Champaign, Illinois
Could Be Design creates seriously playful spaces that initiate participation, companionship, and solidarity among multiple communities. Directed by Joseph Altshuler and Zack Morrison, the Chicago- and Urbana-based design practice imagines the built environment as an animate being with agency of its own. From exuberant interiors to interactive public spaces, the practice positions architecture as an active character in the world, enacting a built environment full of vibrant color, shapely form, and intimate encounters. Could Be Design is the Artistic Director of the Chicago Sukkah Design Festival, a public art and architecture exhibition that includes multiple pavilion installations that celebrate cultural heritage, designed and built in partnership with community organizations in the North Lawndale neighborhood. Could Be Design’s work has been featured at Exhibit Columbus, the Chicago Architecture Biennial, Miami Art Week, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Elmhurst Art Museum, and the Detroit Month of Design. The practice was awarded the 2023 Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers by The Architectural League of New York.
Joseph Altshuler is Principal and Cofounder of Could Be Design, an architectural designer, and Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he teaches in the School of Architecture and the Department of Landscape Architecture. In addition to his work as a design practitioner, Joseph propagates design excellence as a curator, editor, and author. Joseph’s first book, Creatures Are Stirring: A Guide to Architectural Companionship, prompts readers to befriend architecture through a collection of essays, flash fictions, and case studies that illustrate solidarity among humans, nonhumans, buildings, interiors, and the broader environment. He is also the founding editor of SOILED, an architectural literary magazine. Each of his book-bound and curatorial efforts create new entry points for public audiences to engage in spatial ideas.
Zack Morrison is Principal and Cofounder of Could Be Design and an architectural designer with over ten years of professional experience working with community partners, private clients, developers, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. Zack has taught design studios at the University of Kentucky, and he was a masterclass teaching fellow at Lawrence Technological University. In addition to his work as a design practitioner, Zack dabbles in furniture and object making. Throughout his work, Zack marries functional requirements with charismatic liveliness, positioning spaces, places and things as interactive companions that animates everyday life with unexpected moments of joy.