North Sea Continuum
Javier Arpa Fernández
Vlad Ilkevich
Giovanni Santamaria
Nabi Agzamov is an architect, urban designer, and researcher based in London. He is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow and PhD candidate at RMIT, and a REDI researcher at 5th Studio. Formerly Head of the Center for Urban Resilience and Ecology at Strelka KB, Nabi’s work explores the intersection of urban design and water resilience. He co-edited North Sea Rising and holds degrees from NYIT and Columbia GSAPP.
Javier Arpa Fernández is an architect, academic, curator, and a writer. He leads the “Building Audiences” group and is Curator of Public Programs at TU Delft. Previously he served as the Director of Research and Education at The Why Factory, he specialises in disseminating design knowledge through public platforms. He has taught globally (Harvard GSD, Columbia GSAPP, ENSA, IAAC) and contributed extensively to architectural discourse through Domus, a+t, and numerous exhibitions and publications.
Vlad Ilkevich is a writer, creative consultant, and design researcher & educator based between Barcelona and NYC. His work spans education events production, cultural strategy, editorial direction, and branding, and research interests lie especially in the evolution of nation-state governance, human migration, supply chains, and sustainable mobility. Formerly at the Strelka Institute and now at MA Design Research at School of Visual Arts, he has contributed to Strelka Mag, ArchDaily, GQ, and EastEast.
Giovanni Santamaria is an architect, educator, and Associate Dean for Academic Operation at the School of Architecture and Design at NYIT. His research in landscape and ecological urbanism spans globalwide, integrating urban theories, politics, cultural and environmental systems approached through a metabolic lens. With a Ph.D from Politecnico di Milano and IUAV in Venice, he has taught between Europe and the US, led international symposia and exhibitions, coordinated academic exchanges, and participated in award-winning design and research initiatives.
North Sea Continuum is a proposal for a nomadic exhibition and a series of situated workshops that reframes the North Sea not as a water body fragmented by nation-states, but as an interconnected space defined by the logic of its watershed, a bioregion shaped by flows of water, culture, ecology, and infrastructure.
In response to climate pressures, from sea-level rise to biodiversity collapse, along with energy transition, shifting logistics, and growing political polarisation, the Continuum does not claim to offer definitive solutions. Instead, it argues that any meaningful response should begin with a sense of regional unity, grounded in the same logic through which these challenges exist: their transboundary and systemic nature.
To achieve this sense of unity, we promote watershed consciousness: a mindset attuned to the cultural and ecological interdependencies of the region that transcend borders. We propose a distributed, collaborative platform that moves across cities, ports, and rivers. Through exhibitions, workshops, and public programs embedded in place, the Continuum will bring together architects, artists, researchers, and local communities to share knowledge, surface overlooked narratives, and co-create new and forgotten ways of seeing and living within the North Sea region.
Each edition of the Continuum will unfold in a different city within the North Sea watershed, such as London, Oslo, Prague, Copenhagen, bringing together a network of practitioners and researchers to exhibit their relevant research, site-based workshops, and lectures that involve participatory remapping of the region, speculative design, and storytelling.
The initiative builds on member Nabi Agzamov’s ongoing REDI PhD research and Vi Per-published North Sea Rising: A Case for Water-Based Commons, a series of essays that challenge conventional notions of territory and governance, advocating for a vision of a North Sea rooted in cooperation.