London Festival of Architecture in collaboration with Architecture LGBT+ and Freehold, has launched an exciting design competition for a Pride Float to celebrate LGBTQIA+ architects at Pride in London 2025. 

This year’s competition is aligned with the LFA 2025 theme of ‘Voices,’ encouraging participants to explore identity, inclusion, and creativity in their designs. By offering a platform for creative expression, the competition reinforces a commitment to inclusivity within architecture, ensuring that LGBTQIA+ professionals are visible and celebrated.

Over three weeks, architects and model makers from across the Woods Bagot London studio collaborated to create a design that would celebrate the power and diversity of queer voices in the built environment. The concept emerged from a studio-wide workshop where we gathered ideas on a shared Miro board, later refined by a focused team who developed a design celebrating the full spectrum of expression—recognising that both quiet and loud voices hold equal value.

At its heart, ‘Pipe Up’ was about shaping space for every voice, quiet or loud, soft or booming, to be heard. A moving structure and a traveling chorus, it represented queer identity, architectural storytelling, and the city we all shape together.

Woods Bagot Designer, Mike Liu says, “The design drew from the familiar experience of speaking through cones or pipes, translating this into a float that visualised sound frequency. Flexible tubes and scaffolding pipes formed the structure’s framework, creating forms that echoed sound waves. By bringing these typically hidden building elements into view, we aimed to symbolise the often unseen but essential queer voices within our industry.”

‘Pipe Up’ was conceived as both invitation and amplifier—encouraging everyone to speak out, support one another, and listen with intention. The design prioritised reusing existing scaffolding materials, reflecting our commitment to sustainable practice and collaborative process.

“Fundamentally, the project was about creating space where every voice—whether quiet or commanding—could be heard. As both moving structure and traveling statement, it represented the intersection of queer identity, architectural narrative, and our collective role in shaping urban space,” says Woods Bagot Interior Designer, Naeera Ali.

“While our design wasn’t selected this year, we remain proud of the creativity, thought, and care poured into the project, and are excited to continue contributing to conversations at the intersection of architecture and inclusion,” says Mike Liu.

The concept will be showcased at Pride in London on July 5, 2025.

Read more here: https://www.londonfestivalofarchitecture.org/pride-float-design-competition/

 Team: Mike Liu, Naeera Ali, Stewart Good, Nikki Finch, Melody Chu