why is it?
what is it?
HOW DOES IT WORK?
HOW DID IT GET THERE?
WHERE WILL IT GO FROM HERE?

space craft performance art

scpa makes spaces, experiences and things for people and for the 360° of life. We pursue projects, research, clients and experiences that explore the roles of people, technology and craft as they relate to performance and personality, site and system, methods of production, and are concerned with the social and environmental issues at work in the broad landscape of tomorrow.

That means we design forward looking houses, habitats, and objects. That means we conduct applied research into appropriate technologies. That means consulting on design, systems design and organizations.

principal design principles

In space, whether outer or here on earth, what we see and interact with is always the product of many systems at play - there are the people who make and the people who use; the methods and machines of production; the modes of transportation; the interfaces and the systems in place to handle what becomes waste. That is just the beginning - there are social, economic and ecological systems as well. Any product, any person for that matter, is the result of many systems interacting. To see the world by seeing systems is to know that almost anything you consider – a building, a spaceship, a product, plant or a planet – is just the tip of an iceberg. Design is all that.

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  • be efficient, define efficiency

    everything shall be as small as it can be

    everything shall be as big as it needs to be

    design light, air and form

    design views from and views of

    design the figure / ground AND the ground / figure (i.e. the relationship(s) between)

    design accessibility of all sorts (mobility, mental, social, economic)

    consider the multiple sites within the course of use and manufacture

    consider the seasons, the times of day, the different weathers

  • easy to use for everybody, function is beautiful

    made using the best combination of technology, skill, craft, the best available knowledge

    consider the lifecycle of the item (cradle to cradle)

    age gracefully (it should weather, not deteriorate)

    consider the assemblers (ease of assembly)

    consider things going wrong (be easy to fix)

    be honest with materials

  • see systems, understand the systems, see the next systems

    improve the whole

    define the thing’s ‘places’ within the systems

    achieve more than one thing at once

    be practical, be fun

    remove barriers

    be multi-functional and polyvalent

    design performance in time - the choreography of people and of things

    be specific

  • beauty is a function

    never lose the individuality of the object or the user

    being individual is the most common thing in the world, so is what is shared (performance quirk)

    know the past, design for the future

    design for the full spectrum of life

    embrace being human

    share

unmake time,
rename our history

Garrett Finney, principal

Bio

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