Most people walk past pipes, utility boxes, and worn-out walls without giving them a second thought. But for the creative minds behind OK Labs (Onaranlar Kulübü), these ordinary urban features are opportunities to create something unexpected. With colorful 3D-printed figures, clever pop culture references, and a healthy dose of imagination, the collective turns overlooked city corners into playful little surprises.
Founded by artist and social entrepreneur Ufuk Emin Akengin, OK Labs is a creative collective whose work appears in cities such as Istanbul, Berlin, and Cologne. From familiar cartoon and video game characters appearing in unusual places to imaginative installations that interact with existing architecture, their creations encourage people to pay closer attention to their surroundings and rediscover the fun in everyday public spaces.
We've gathered a selection of their creative street installations below, so scroll down to explore them. Don't forget to upvote your favorites and let us know in the comments which ones you'd love to stumble upon during a walk around your city!
More info: onaranlarkulubu.com | Instagram
#1 Berlin Street Installations - Snoopy
Location: Heinrichplatz, Berlin, Germany
Description: “We scattered a few familiar faces across Berlin and turned the city into a small pop-culture treasure hunt. Sonic and Snoopy were placed in different locations, each designed around the specific urban detail it landed on — so a park or street fixture could suddenly become part of their world. The series uses collective nostalgia as a way to gamify the city and make everyday routes feel a little less predictable.”
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13points
Beyond bringing smiles to passersby, the collective has a broader mission centered on community, sustainability, and social impact. Through workshops and collaborative projects, Onaranlar Kulübü brings together artists, designers, makers, and local residents to rethink how public spaces can be used, repaired, and transformed.
#2 Bomonti Urban Hacking Workshop - Wall Interventions
Location: Bomonti, Istanbul, Turkey
Description: “Balat is full of old walls, cracks, gaps and architectural details that already seem to tell their own stories. During our Urban Hacking Workshop, we used these small imperfections as starting points, adding playful forms that appear to emerge from, disappear into or become part of the walls themselves. Instead of covering the city’s irregularities, we wanted to make them part of the design.”
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11points
#3 Rick & Morty - Instabul & Cologne
Locations Sisli, Istanbul, Turkey and Allerweltshaus, Cologne, Germany
Description: “We turned Rick and Morty’s iconic portal into a street installation connecting two different cities. The journey began on a wall in Istanbul, where the characters appeared to be disappearing into the portal, and continued all the way in Cologne, Germany - as if they had actually travelled from one city to another. A small piece of pop culture became our playful way of building a bridge between Istanbul and Cologne.”
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11points
Their approach is rooted in the belief that cities shouldn't be treated as fixed environments but as places that people can actively shape. Rather than ignoring imperfections or covering up neglected urban details, the team often incorporates them into its designs, giving overlooked objects and spaces an entirely new purpose.
#4 Ceramic Repair Movement - Super Mario
Location: Sıraselviler St., Beyoglu, Istanbul
Description: “What if repairing a damaged city surface could feel like adding a new level to a video game? For this intervention, discarded and surplus ceramic pieces were arranged in a pixel-art language inspired by ’90s gaming, turning a worn urban surface into a Super Mario scene. Instead of hiding the imperfections of the city, the repair makes them part of the story. Mario produced by 3D printing.”
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11points
#5 Bomonti Urban Hacking Workshop - Bart Simpson
Location: Osmanbey, Istanbul, Turkey
Description: “What happens when Bart Simpson finds his way out of Springfield and into the streets of Istanbul? During one of our Urban Hacking Workshops, we used the city itself as the starting point for a playful intervention, turning an everyday urban detail into a little scene that feels like it escaped from a cartoon. For us, urban hacking is often exactly that: seeing something ordinary and imagining what else it could become.”
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8points
Since beginning its repair and design movement in 2016, the collective has developed a wide range of creative projects, including more than 150 public installations. Through 3D printing, upcycling, and hands-on community activities, its work shows how small, thoughtful interventions can make cities more engaging, welcoming, and enjoyable for everyone.
#6 The Little Prince
Location: Kalfaoğlu Street, Kadıköy, Istanbul, Turkey
Description: “We brought The Little Prince into the streets of Kadıköy as a small invitation to slow down and look at the city with a little more curiosity. Inspired by the story’s themes of friendship, belonging, and seeing beyond the obvious, the installation transforms an everyday wall into a quiet encounter with one of literature’s most timeless characters.”
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8points
#7 Toy Story
Location: Bomonti, Sisli, Instanbul, Turkey
Description: “Buzz Lightyear finally made it to infinity - although this time, he landed in the streets of Istanbul. Inspired by the world of Toy Story, we created a 3D-printed Buzz Lightyear installation that turns an ordinary urban surface into a small moment of childhood imagination. Each piece was individually produced, assembled, and painted before taking its place in Bomonti.”
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8points
#8 Balat Urban Hacking Workshop - Octopus Tentacle
Location: Balat, Fatih, Instanbul
Description: “A small opening in the city became our gateway to something much bigger. We placed an octopus tentacle emerging from an urban gap, suggesting that an entire creature might be hiding somewhere behind the wall. The piece turned a forgotten little void into the beginning of a story, with the rest left completely to the imagination.”
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8points
#9 Super Mario - Cem Street
Location: Cem Sokak, Moda, Kadıköy, Istanbul, Turkey
Description: “Inspired by the nostalgia of growing up in the ’90s, we brought Super Mario out of the screen and into the streets of Moda, Istanbul. A 3D-printed Mario was combined with a laser-cut and hand-painted pipe, transforming an ordinary wall on Cem Street into a small, playful urban surprise. The installation is part of our ongoing practice of using pop culture, design, and street interventions to create new connections between people and the city.”
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7points
#10 Bomonti Urban Hacking Workshop - Wall Interventions
Location: Bomonti, Sisli, Istanbul, Turkey
Description: “Balat is full of old walls, cracks, gaps and architectural details that already seem to tell their own stories. During our Urban Hacking Workshop, we used these small imperfections as starting points, adding playful forms that appear to emerge from, disappear into or become part of the walls themselves. Instead of covering the city’s irregularities, we wanted to make them part of the design.”
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6points
#11 Bebek Park - Electrical Box Intervention
Location: Bebek Park, Istanbul
Description: “Instead of treating an electrical box as something that simply had to disappear into the background, we turned it into part of the playground. Using 3D-printed elements and color, an ordinary piece of urban infrastructure became a small character-filled surprise in Istanbul’s Bebek Park — proof that even the most overlooked objects in a city can join the fun.”
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6points
#12 Unicef - World Children Day
Location: Kadıköy Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School, Kadıköy, Istanbul
Description: “For World Children’s Day, we created an installation using 43 school bags to talk about something much bigger than the objects themselves: every child’s right to education. Installed at a public high school in Kadıköy, the bags became symbols of dreams, opportunities, and the transformative power that access to education can have in a child’s life.”
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6points
#13 Street Fighter
Location: Kadıkoy, Istanbul, Turkey
Description: “A familiar character from the world of Street Fighter escaped the screen and became part of the city for this playful street intervention. By placing a piece of video-game culture into an unexpected urban context, the installation transforms an ordinary street detail into a small visual joke for anyone who recognizes it.”
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6points
#14 Bubblegum David
Location: Kartal St. Beyoglu Istanbul, Turkey
Description: “We gave one of art history’s most serious faces a slightly less serious moment. By adding an oversized bubble-gum detail to David, the intervention creates a playful collision between classical sculpture and contemporary street culture - the kind of visual joke that only really works when you unexpectedly meet it in public space.”
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5points
#15 Berlin Street Installations - Sonic
Location: Theodor-Wolff Park, Berlin, Germany
Description: “We scattered a few familiar faces across Berlin and turned the city into a small pop-culture treasure hunt. Sonic and Snoopy were placed in different locations, each designed around the specific urban detail it landed on — so a park or street fixture could suddenly become part of their world. The series uses collective nostalgia as a way to gamify the city and make everyday routes feel a little less predictable.”
Report
5points
#16 LEGO Space Installations
Location: multiple streets across Instabul
Description: “As part of the LEGO Space Installation Project, we transformed ordinary urban details into playful scenes inspired by space, imagination, and building. Using 3D-printed elements and site-specific interventions, the project brought a small piece of the LEGO universe into the streets of Istanbul and invited people to see familiar places with a more curious eye.”
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5points
#17 Balat Urban Hacking Workshop - Gorilla
Location: Balat, Fatih, Istanbul, Turkey
Description: “During our Urban Hacking Workshop in Balat, we found a bricked-up opening on an old building and imagined that something might be hiding behind it. The answer was a gorilla peeking out at passersby, turning an architectural leftover into one of the neighborhood’s strangest new residents. The intervention was developed collectively with workshop participants after exploring Balat and looking for overlooked urban details to transform.”
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4points
#18 Bomonti Urban Hacking Workshop - David
Location: Bomonti, Istanbul, Turkey
Description: “Even Michelangelo’s David can use a change of scenery every once in a while. For this intervention, the familiar classical figure left the museum pedestal behind and became part of an unexpected street composition - mixing art history with the everyday visual language of the city. It’s the kind of encounter that makes you look twice.”
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4points
#19 Motionlab Berlin - The Making Totem
Location: MotionLab, Alt-Treptow, Berlin, Germany
Description: “For MotionLab Berlin’s Hardtech Innovation Demo Day, we created a large sculptural totem built piece by piece through digital fabrication and hands-on making. The installation combines more than twenty 3D-printed elements with repurposed materials, including components made from discarded bicycle tires, turning the object into a celebration of experimentation, collaborative production and Berlin’s maker culture.”
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4points
#20 Balat Urban Hacking Workshop - Zebra
Location: Balat, Fatih, Istanbul, Turkey
Description: “A utility box probably isn’t the first place you’d expect to spot wildlife in Istanbul. During our Balat Urban Hacking Workshop, we transformed an ordinary gas box into a zebra, using its existing shape as part of the joke rather than trying to hide it. It’s a simple example of how we like to read the city: not just for what things are, but for what they could become.”
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3points
