Collaboration with PRIMA: Mediating Art & Cultural Heritage
By Olina Olseth
This spring semester, students from the course Collab: Mediating Art & Cultural Heritage partnered with PRIMA, a micro-architecture park located in Leulinghen-Bernes, France. The park, approximately a three-hour train ride from Paris, served as the focal point of the class project, offering students a unique opportunity to engage with a real-world client and test out their design and graphic communication skills.
Under the guidance of Program Director and Art Historian Stephanie Nadalo, the course invites students each year to collaborate with museums and cultural institutions. Using both analog and digital tools, students develop design concepts, visual identities, mediation tools, and social media content tailored to the needs of their clients. An example of past collaborations includes the partnership with L’AiR Arts Association, detailed in the blog post “Collab: From the Classroom to the Client.”
Image 1: Francesca Bonesio at PRIMA, standing in front of Harmonie, a sculpture by Marion Conte & Olivier Roldès, 2021. Image 2: View of the quarry from the PRIMA park.
PRIMA, founded in 2019, invites designers, artists, and architecture students from across Europe to transform their sketches into large-scale inhabited sculptures. Groupe CB, a key partner of PRIMA, owns the park’s land, provides raw materials sourced from its quarry, and has its headquarters located within the park. Francesca Bonesio, a faculty member at Parsons Paris, serves as PRIMA’s Creative Director, with the artistic direction managed through Atelier 37.2, the studio she co-founded with Nicolas Guiraud. The park’s concept revolves around micro-architecture, using only stone, concrete, and steel as materials. Currently showcasing 17 sculptures, PRIMA continues to grow, with new installations inspired by this year’s competition brief on how we can design spaces for the cohabitation of human and non-human living organisms.
In 2023, PRIMA began welcoming outside visitors during special occasions like the European Heritage Days (Journées du Patrimoine). Looking ahead to summer 2025, they are preparing to introduce regular group visits along with expanded programming for the public. Notably, some of the mediation tools designed by the Parsons Paris students in this course will also be implemented for the first time as part of this new phase of public engagement.
“Students’ proposals are so accurate and professional that implementing them is definitely something realistic. We’ll test most of them with the first guided visits in June!” – Francesca Bonesio, PRIMA Creative Director
The Collaboration Process
At the outset, students conducted in-depth research on land art and micro-architecture to gain a comprehensive understanding of PRIMA’s identity and mission. This research informed the development of strategies for the semester’s two main client briefs.
The first brief tasked students with producing visual content for PRIMA’s social media channels. The goal was to either promote the park’s upcoming public opening, provide informative content explaining PRIMA’s concept, or highlight the competition brief focused on human and non-human cohabitation. Equipped with cameras, tripods, and microphones, students traveled to PRIMA on a sunny day that proved perfect for content creation. The visit included a warm welcome from Groupe CB at their headquarters and a guided tour of the park by Francesca Bonesio. The resulting videos showcased a diverse range of creative approaches, from interviews and aesthetic-focused visuals to stop-motion drawings. Selected videos can be viewed on Instagram via @prima_architectural_foundation and @parsonsparis.artmedia.
Image 1: Students walking through Point de Bascule, designed by Capucine Chessé & Elisa Milliancourt in 2020. Image 2: All students gathered by Fusion, a sculpture designed by Coline Miossec & Timothé Orloff in 2022. Image 3: Content shooting by the sculpture Vision, designed by Marine Bouvard & Léon Felix in 2022.
The second brief concentrated on designing mediation tools for both on-site and digital use. Students could choose to redesign the existing adult mediation guide, update the park’s map, create a children’s activity guide, or develop an interactive digital map. After presenting initial prototypes, students received valuable feedback from Francesca Bonesio, the president of the PRIMA Foundation Agathe Tallon, and Parsons Paris faculty member and graphic designer Monica Fraile Morisson. This feedback guided the final iterations, ensuring consistent visual identity and effective communication for the client.
“Students mediating other students’ projects–what a dream!” – Francesca Bonesio, PRIMA Creative Director
The final deliverables included a foldable map combining navigation and mediation information, an interactive online map for PRIMA’s website, a set of memory cards, and a playful children’s kit encouraging hands-on engagement with micro-architecture concepts.
Re-designed PRIMA map and mediation guide. Photos by Kate Swartz and Lorena Gama, 2025.
PRIMA memory cards. Photos by Lorena Gama, 2025.
Prototype of the children’s mediation tool. Photos by Sarah Thigpen, 2025.
Preview of the interactive map for PRIMA. Developed by Camilla Tacchi, Alice Signorelli, and Susanna Shu, 2025.
A Personal Reflection
As a student participating in this collaboration, I feel incredibly proud and grateful for the experience. Watching our ideas develop from initial sketches into tangible tools that will soon be used by PRIMA has been deeply rewarding. This project offered a valuable opportunity to apply classroom learning in a real-world context, while contributing to the park’s upcoming public opening. I look forward to seeing our mediation tools in use—whether through PRIMA’s website or social media. Stay tuned on our Instagram and PRIMA’s channels for updates on the launch of these student-designed tools!