A network of expertise
for the urban context
Make_Shift is a creative consultancy and communications agency working at the intersection of architecture, creative industries, and urban futures.
We curate, facilitate and consult with a key network of experts in the fields of sustainable urbanism and creative industries. We are part of EU Networks for cooperative cities, leading international think tanks, foundations for excellence in the built environment.
We connect the decision makers with the pioneers in the business of urban development.
Make_Shift ist eine Agentur für Kommunikation, Beratung und Prozessgestaltung an der Schnittstelle von Architektur, Kreativwirtschaft und urbane Zukunft.
Wir stehen für urbane Innovation auf zeitgemäßem Niveau. Wir kuratieren, ermöglichen und beraten mit einem weitreichenden Netzwerk der Expertisen in nachhaltiger Architektur, Kreativwirtschaft und Urban Design. Wir sind Teil der EU-Netzwerke für kooperative Städte, führender internationaler Think Tanks und baukulturelle Stiftungen.
Wir verbinden die Entscheider*innen mit den Pionier* innen der Stadtentwicklung.
Projects & Commissions
Featured Projects
10/2025 - present
Book project: Designing Resilience. New urban architecture for a fragile planet
Designing Resilience as a publication will show that resilience is a condition architecture can actually help cultivate. It demonstrates, through built work, that buildings, landscapes and civic spaces can be shaped so that social ties strengthen, climate pressures are absorbed, and communities hold together under stress.
Images: La Friche Belle de Mai, Marseille – ‚Refuge du Vivant‘, Matthieu Poitevin, ARM Architecture
3-9/2025
Strategic Development - sites in transformation. LOBE BLOCK
development of concepts and strategies for developer Olivia Reynolds, for commercial and cultural site in Berlin - communication and network development for cultural placemaking and trans-disciplinary identity.
2024
Make-Shift Research Year ➔ Third places & Mixed-Use - Berlin / Dakar / Brussels / Amsterdam / Paris / Marseille
➔ Curatorial advisory to PULSE festival for architecture and design
➔ Development ➔ international Peer Learning Network -
city & material futures: circular, sustainable, co-creative.
PULSE Archi. / image - Césure, Paris
2022 - 2023
RE/View the Next
HPP Architects Communication campaign
Curatorial ➔ Consulting: As strategic and curatorial consultants, Make_Shift co-developed HPP Architects’ award-winning communication campaign. We shaped the exhibition design at Aedes Architecture Forum, and created editorial content. ➔ Design research in collaboration with Bauwelt, guiding HPP's narrative towards future-oriented architectural discourse.
(image credit HPP Architekten, Florian Langer)
2022 - ongoing
MODELLVERFAHREN - MODEL PROCESS MÄUSEBUNKER:
Make_Shift curated and led the concept development of a pioneering transformation process for the brutalist Mäusebunker. Commissioned by the Berlin Heritage Office (Landesdenkmalamt), we created a new collaborative model integrating urban policy, architecture, and civic activism. Since 2023, Mäusebunker is officially heritage-listed. The model process is set to continue. Symposium: Mäusebunker - A Transformation / The Turning of the Ark
Berlinische Galerie, 30/6/2023. Modellverfahren minidocumentary here.
Berlin
https://www.modellverfahren-maeusebunker.de
Symposium - Mäusebunker Transformation Exhibition Suddenly Wonderful, Berlinische Galerie
2020 - 2021
Theater Karlshorst to KAHO:
Commissioned by Stiftung Stadtkultur, Make_Shift designed the transformation process for KAHO – converting a Soviet-era theatre into a future-oriented and spatially modular cultural centre. The project foregrounded adaptive reuse, multi-stakeholder planning, and change design for cultural infrastructures.
Thought Leadership & Panels
12.2025
Produktive Stadt - Talk @ Design Dialog, Stadtmuseum Wiesbaden
Discussion on adaptive re-use, urban production and cooperative planning, with Constanze Paffrath - Dept of urban planning, Wiesbaden, and Philipp Krass, berchtoldkrass - space&options
9.2025
Panel on Sustainable Urban Development @ COM-LAB - Humboldt Foundation
Talk on mixed use and urban production, with Philipp Misselwitz, CEO Bauhaus Foundation and Angela Million, Director, Global Center on spatial methods for urban sustainability.
7.2023
Rotterdam chapter of Drees&Sommer’s ‘Re-Building Europe’ workshops -
Talk on vertical density, urban resilience, and the ecosystems needed for sustainable architectural practice in Europe’s future cities.
6.21.2023
URBAN FUTURES 23 STUTTGART: REPAIR, REFURBISH, REUSE, RESTORE, RECONSTRUCT:
How to develop and build in existing structures
Francesca Ferguson joined a panel alongside Dan Pearlman, ROCKWOOL Group, and Bauen im Bestand e.V. to explore how architecture can embrace transformation through re-use and sustainable building practice
Jury & Advisory Work
6.2023
Associate Membership of the BDA-Berlin - Association of German Architects
Francesca Ferguson was inaugurated as an Associate Member of the Bund Deutscher Architektinnen und Architekten, affirming Make_Shift’s engagement in architectural discourse at the institutional level.
2022 - 2023
EU Mies van der Rohe Award 2021 & 2022 Jury Member
As part of the EU Mies van der Rohe Award jury, Francesca Ferguson contributed to selecting Europe’s most innovative architectural practices. Includes jury discussions, finalist interviews (Grafton Architects, Deadline, BDR Bureau), and features.
miesarch.com Grafton Architects Town House, Kingston University Frizz 23 by Deadline Architects Enrico Fermi School, BDR bureau
5.2023
DIVERSITY IN ARCHITECTURE:
Francesca Ferguson served on the founding Board of Trustees for DIVIA, a platform advancing gender equity and visibility in architecture. The inaugural prize honored Marta Maccaglia (Semillas, Peru), with finalists including MUF, May al-Ibrashy, Tosin Oshinowo, and Noella Nibakuze
Berlin, Venice, Global.
diversityinarchitecture.de archdaily.com #DIViA
Public Programs & Talks
31.5.2022
Panelist @ Digitalbau, World Architects + C.FATH ARCHITECTURE COMMUNICATION
Cologne: Panelist in a discussion on digital tools in architectural communication and the role of curated narratives in shaping public understanding of the built environment.
30.10.2021
Participation in the architecture discussions curated by Marcin Szczelina - editor in chief of Archisnob at Warsaw Home - Interior design business fair
Warsaw
23.9.2021
Moderation of the Curator's Talk „Thinking forward through the past?“ as part of Ludwig Heimbach's exhibition "Mäusebunker & Hygieneinstitut: Experimental Setup Berlin" @ the "Pavilion Days" of the Venice Architecture Biennial, 2021
IUAV, Venice
15.9.2021
Screening of "Battleship Berlin" by Nathan Eddy with a discussion between Lukáš Landa, Felix Torkar und Francesca Ferguson
Czech Centre Berlin
10.9.2021
Panel discussion curated by Make_Shift as part of the Modellverfahren Mäusebunker for heritage futures in Berlin. - in cooperation with Berlinische Galerie
Berlinische Galerie, Berlin
3.9.2021
Wissensräume unserer Gesellschaft
Presentation on knowledge spaces and urban learning formats.
19.6.2021
Curated TRIALOGUE with Julia Erdmann & Nicole Srock-Stanley on RE_MakingCity through adaptive and inclusive design.
WIA Women in Architecture Festival, Berlin
