Totems for the 21st Century is a movement, conceptualised by Richard Hassell, a director of WOHA Architects and an artist, in 2017. Richard introduced the concept into a few WOHA projects between 2017 and 2021 which are still ongoing. During these four years, many people became excited by the concept, and wanted to take part in some way.

To have any real impact, the movement needs to grow in cities all over the world, so we want this Totem concept to be freely implemented by anyone without concern of infringement of intellectual property (IP). We know firsthand of all the copyright and IP indemnities and disclaimers involved in public sector and corporate sector works. IP arising from the The Totems for the 21st Century movement is shared and open and free. The satisfaction for the founders is from helping baby birds, bats and bees take flight into the city, helping their species survive and adapt.

At the same time, to be widely adopted, we want people to have authorship over their own project, copyright on their designs, and to be able to make and sell totems if they see an opportunity, so we came up with this IP strategy:

Totems for the 21st Century is an open movement. Whatever IP arises from the concepts and principles of the movement, is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike license which states:

“This license lets others remix, adapt, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to “copyleft” free and open source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use. This is the license used by Wikipedia, and is recommended for materials that would benefit from incorporating content from Wikipedia and similarly licensed projects.”

For clarity, this does not apply to the artistic and design copyrights on the expression of the totem, these are totally under the ownership of the creators. And for instance, if you designed an amazing totem with a great manufacturer, you keep the rights to that design, and can sell it, and make sure others don’t copy it. But others can make a differently expressed one that serves the same function, and might have similar components or dimensions, if these are integral to the function (eg housing birds of a similar size and habit, or even the same birds). And let’s face it, there are all kinds of birdhouses, nest boxes, bat houses and insect hotels already out there. All we ask is if you came to this project through Totems for the 21st Century, you credit the concept and create a path for others to join the movement.

We want the movement to spread without anyone commercialising the name, the concept, the knowledge and techniques and the educational materials. For clarity, it is like the generally applied Recipe IP situation - it isn’t possible to claim ownership of a recipe, but you can have copyright on the design of a recipe book, or of a recipe website - the expression of the recipe in media.

In this case, the movement is the recipe, but your physical totem is your cookbook design.

We also want to see what amazing things you do with the concept, so do send us materials to add to the case studies page, and tag us on instagram with any projects going on. Help others learn how you did it better, or more beautifully. But be patient, we are doing this on a volunteer basis, so we may not respond quickly (or at all).

Be Kind! Sometimes as competitive designers we can be very critical of each other but we would like all Totem makers to adopt the custodial attitude of many First Nations cultures. · This movement is about being kind and caring: promoting the work of others, creating a network of knowledge and support; when one wins, we all celebrate. This movement is about the system effects of many small actions.

Most importantly, we do not accept any liability for any Totems project. You are 100% responsible for your Totem. It is important to consider location, engineering design, public safety, lightning, wind, corrosion, long term maintenance, eventual demounting and recycling and many other health and safety aspects.

Do your own risk assessments and be familiar with all applicable regulations. Consult public art guidelines, children’s playground guidelines, and public furniture guidelines and public infrastructure regulations as a starting point. Stay safe!