Isoland Part 2 Project 2020 Paige Kodesh University of New South Wales | Australia How do we have fun in a pandemic? Can we still enjoy social events together, whilst separated? Isoland is an adaptable and global solution that seeks to answer these questions amid the collective experience of isolation during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Rather than forgoing social activities, Isoland proposes a series of ‘attractions’ that celebrate the banality of life we may take for granted. The result is a theme park consisting of six common spaces for social gathering which have been compromised during global lockdown measures. Blending satire with functionality, Isoland re-imagines the familiarities & nostalgia of life before lockdown. As an i mmediate response to the current crisis, Isoland asks us to examine the production and commodification of social spaces – do we really need 15 individual lifts to operate a pool? Is having a beverage delivered via conveyor belt the same experience as ordering at a counter? When this is all over, will the theme park sit unused, as a folly of what it once was? These questions are left unanswered. Instead, the solution i s left to global leaders, who can purchase Isoland and reproduce it due to its Ikea-like assembly instructions. The studio brief invited students to explore contemporary issues and challenges affecting mental health for 18-24 year-olds. Students were invited to focus on meeting immediate mental health needs, or to develop initiatives concerning one or more mental health challenges. The site was the arts centre Carriageworks, located in a gentrifying, post-industrial part of Sydney. The studio partnered with the Black Dog Institute, a leading mental health research organisation that aims to reduce mental illness and stigma. Students were invited to use their designs to creatively comment on issues affecting mental health, in particular contributory societal factors. Students were encouraged to go beyond the usual boundaries of architecture. They were invited to draw on other disciplines, approaches and ideas that are not found in traditional architectural practice. They were asked to question the wider issues and implications of practice and the future role of the architect in rapidly changing societies.The studio is part of a new stream, Social Agency, which began in 2016. The studio focuses on complex contemporary societal issues that may not usually be the focus of architectural education. Previous studios have focused on forced migration, homelessness, wellbeing and social inclusion. Tutor(s) David Sanderson Mark Szczerbicki