Jose Sanchez

Plethora-Project is a design studio dedicated to promoting computational literacy in Architecture and Design. With a mission to eliminate obscurity in digital design, the studio was inspired by the TopLap live-coding group's motto, "show me your screens." Initially established in 2011 as a teaching initiative, Plethora-Project has evolved into a design and software development studio.

Each project developed by Plethora-Project aims to create a repository of knowledge that can be utilized by the public, fostering a digital infrastructure for DIY endeavors. The studio adopts a humanistic approach, placing individuals at the center of decision-making and challenging algorithm-driven choices. By leveraging digital platforms, Plethora-Project embodies intelligence augmentation and encourages collaborative design practices.

An essential aspect of Plethora-Project's work is combinatorial design, which seeks affordable means of differentiation through the reconfiguration of parts. The studio explores patterns that enable the sharing and immateriality of design, making it accessible to a broader audience.

Another focus of Plethora-Project is Discrete Architecture, moving beyond the limitations of parametric architecture to incorporate political and economic considerations in fabrication. This collective advocates for an alternative economic model based on collectivism, challenging the prevailing neoliberal ideologies inherent in the parametric design agenda.

Plethora-Project further champions "Architectures for the Commons," which resists the competition-driven decision-making process in architectural design. By rediscovering the commons and leveraging social connectivity, Plethora-Project proposes a distributed non-exploitative network to produce design and value in an open, cooperative manner.

Led by Jose Sanchez, an architect, game designer, and theorist, Plethora-Project explores interactive platforms like video games to enhance architectural and ecological thinking for non-experts. Jose Sanchez has authored the book "Architecture for the Commons: Participatory Systems in the Age of Platforms" and has taught at prestigious institutions worldwide. The studio's research focuses on leveraging social media platforms as tools for authoring architectural content in the public domain.