The Urban Listening Room: Build in Process series
A series exploring a sound system in process, moving from prototyping and workshops to a shared public listening session.
The Urban Listening Room: Build in Process series
15 May 2026, 18:30 – 21:00
About the series
The Urban Listening Room: Build in Process series explores how a sound system takes shape through prototyping, making, and collective listening.
The series unfolds across a focused development period at the UCL Urban Room, beginning with early prototyping and moving through a two-day workshop (14–15 May 2026), led by designer and creative technologist David Chen. Working at the intersection of DJ culture and design engineering, David guides participants through the process of building and testing a sound system in formation.These sessions are open via registration of interest (limited to 10 participants) and centre on experimentation, reflection, and hands-on engagement with materials, sound, and space.
The process culminates in a public listening session on the evening of Friday 15 May 2026, led by Charlie Dark MBE with Run Dem Sound. A DJ and cultural activist with decades of experience in sound system culture, Charlie brings the system into a shared listening environment, guiding audiences through a collective experience shaped by the build process. Rather than presenting a finished object, the session brings the sound system into conversation with the space and its listeners.
This series builds on The Urban Listening Room sound system session first held at UCL East in November 2025, led by Charlie Dark MBE with Run Dem Sound. While the earlier session introduced sound system culture as a collective listening environment, this phase extends that work through making—exploring how sound is formed, tested, and experienced as it comes into being.
Across the series, sound is approached not as a fixed system, but as something that is built, tested, and encountered collectively.
Event schedule
A two-day workshop exploring the design, prototyping, and testing of a sound system in formation.
Location: UCL Urban Room, 1 Pool St, London E20 2AF
A two-day workshop exploring the design, prototyping, and testing of a sound system in formation. Participants will work hands-on with materials, tools, and audio systems, developing an understanding of how sound is shaped through space and collective making.
Workshops are open via registration of interest (max. 10 participants).
Sessions are expected to run across the full day (approximately 10am–4pm), and participants are strongly encouraged to attend both days to support the collective build process. Final timings and practical details will be shared directly with selected participants via email.
Free to attend. Food and drink provided.
A public listening session emerging from a two-day sound system workshop at the UCL Urban Room.
Location: UCL Urban Room, 1 Pool St, London E20 2AF
A public listening session emerging from the two-day workshop, where the sound system is opened to a wider audience as a shared listening environment.
The evening unfolds through guided listening, moving across ambient and instrumental selections, with contributions from collaborators reflecting on the cultural, technical, and spatial dimensions of sound system practice. Structured as a collective listening environment rather than a performance, the session invites audiences to experience how sound is formed and shared in real time.
A drinks reception with vinyl will follow, creating space for informal conversation and reflection.
Free to attend.
Documentation notice
Events will be documented through photography, video, and audio recording for research, reporting, and future public outputs. By registering for and attending the event, you consent to being included in this documentation.
If you have any questions or concerns, or would prefer not to be recorded, please contact the event organiser.
Facilitators
David Chen is an emerging product designer and creative technologist based in London. Having recently completed a Master’s in Design Engineering at Imperial College, he is developing an interdisciplinary practice at the intersection of DJ culture and design engineering, exploring how sound systems can be designed, built, and experienced as both technical and cultural forms.
Charlie Dark MBE is a DJ, cultural activist, and founder of Run Dem Crew, an internationally recognised running collective that has reshaped how communities gather through movement and music. With decades of experience in sound system culture, broadcasting, and public engagement, his work centres on collective wellbeing, cultural connection, and creating spaces for people to come together through sound.
Dana Sousa-Limbu is a cultural producer and founder of ECHOS MONDE, a creative practice working across events production, practice-based research, and cultural consultancy. Her work explores sound as something collectively produced and spatially experienced, bringing together public programming, documentary, and listening-based formats. She leads The Urban Listening Room at UCL East, where these ideas are developed through sound system culture, collaborative making, and live listening sessions.
Graphic design: Adriana Dincu
Photography: Andre Tomlin
Graphic design: Adriana Dincu
Project collaborators
- Carlos Bandi, Designing Audio Experiences MA
- Dr Kara Blackmore, UCL Urban Room
- Arella Ezeugoh, Black@UCL
- Chinma Johnson-Nwosu, Designing Audio Experiences MA
- Dr Angela McArthur, Designing Audio Experiences MA
- Tandi Nyawanza, Black@UCL
- John Ogunyiluka, UCL Bartlett School of Architecture
- Diamante Patterson, Designing Audio Experiences MA
Supported by
This project and event series are supported by UCL Grand Challenges x ChangeMakers, the Bartlett School of Architecture Just Environments Incubator Fund, and the UCL East Community Engagement Seed Fund.
Image credit: Sound system drawing by Dana Sousa-Limbu.
Flyer design: Adriana Dincu
Further information
Ticketing
Open
Cost
Free
Open to
All
Availability
Yes