Milieu Collaborative

Anthony Averbeck
Eric Barr
Joe Brookover

mi · lieu : the physical or social setting in which something occurs or develops : environment, sphere, background, backdrop, setting, context, atmosphere; location, conditions, surroundings, environs;

origin and etymology : from mi, middle (from Latin medius) + lieu, place (from Latin locus)

MILIEU is a design and research think tank that tasks itself with multi-scalar investigations, from the tactical to the territorial, into the conditions of the built environment in the American Midwest, a place that lacks significant research into the complexities of its urban, suburban, and rural environments and their relationships to territorial systems. This collaborative explores modes of human occupation in a territory undergirded by specific economic and cultural forces and their resultant systems as a basis for speculative futures.

The American Midwest is a territory of 750,000 sq.mi. that is home to an estimated 68,179,351 inhabitants. It is one of four census-designated regions in the United States. Conventional understanding of the territory contains twelve geographically landlocked states bordered by Canada to the north, the American West, American Northeast, and American South. Characterized by vast interior plains between the Appalachians to the east and Rocky Mountains to the west; the territory is known today for its relatively low population density, intensive resource production, post-industrial river cities, and cultures of independence. Still, buffeted by globalisation, this territory is a frontline of transformation for future economies, novel politics, and an untapped commons.

MILIEU is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Charlottesville, Virginia, and Indianapolis, Indiana and is facilitated by designers Anthony Averbeck, Eric Barr, and Joseph Brookover, who studied together at the University of Virginia School of Architecture.