Plou is a collaborative practice focused on spatial design, art, and social innovation, led by Amsterdam-based architect Txell Blanco.2 It develops buildings, spaces, strategies, and visions that promote sustainable, liveable, social, nature-inclusive, and vibrant environments through user involvement in co-design processes.2 Key activities include supporting housing cooperatives, serious games for spatial planning, placemaking, agroforestry projects, and renovations.347910
Since 2020, Plou has supported Wooncooperatie Stroom, a housing cooperative in Amsterdam developing a co-living residential building with shared resources and low environmental impact, emphasizing collective decision-making on technical and financial aspects.3 In 2016, it joined Play the City, contributing to serious games that enable low-risk collaborative urban planning sessions.4 Other work spans placemaking and public encounters in cityscapes,7 agroforestry advice for farmers in the Netherlands to integrate trees with crops and strengthen ecosystems,9 and the 2010-2014 renovation of Schlossberg Thun castle in Switzerland into a cultural center with hotel, restaurant, theater, and fablab facilities.10
Plou connects to affordable and sustainable housing via its role in Wooncooperatie Stroom, advancing collective self-managed models with reduced environmental footprints, and broader sustainable design practices.32 Based in Amsterdam, its scope includes local Dutch projects, European collaborations like Switzerland, and national initiatives such as agroforestry.1910 Contact details list Txell Blanco as the primary figure, with no founding date specified.12