Speakers

Jussi is designer, artist and educator and is actively involved in the ever-expanding field of new media, working with digital materiality and interaction design. Further Jussi is the creative director of ART+COM Studios, where his work in public art commissions, exhibitions and installations are consistently yielding international recognition.
Area B: Design with Digital and Physical Realities
Keynote: Being there: Designing Hybrid Spaces +
A holistic new media approach that connects the physical design, digital layer in space and hybrid access for remote participants presents new direction how to think of spatial design. Meaning in the physical spaces, just as in virtual is primed by spatial qualities, storytelling, social experience and agency. Through my experience in creating exhibitions, artistic interventions and showrooms, inherently digital but also physical spaces, I will reflect on successes and challenges in creating them. Where the techno-optimistic desire creates a demand for the new, it is the very old, human, that makes things meaningful. How can we appropriately bridge technologies in designing the physical aspects together with the dynamic, responsive digital layer, as well as enabling engagement and social interaction in space and across long distance?

Oliver wants to understand intelligence. He does this by building embodied machines (robots) and then studying how they interact with the world. A great inspiration for his research are biological intelligent agents (animals) so that he collaborates with psychologists and behavioural biologists, following the hypothesis that the principles of intelligence should be the same in animals and machines.
Area A: Design Between Human and Machine Intelligence
Keynote: Building Intelligence +
The term “intelligence” is as overused as it is misunderstood. Artificial intelligence will solve our most dire problems. Artificial intelligence is a threat to humanity. Which one is it? Hard to tell. But I will report on attempts to understand what intelligence really is, both biologically and artificially. We study intelligent behaviour in animals and artificial agents to turn the tables in our favor.

Martyn is Professor of Emerging Technology at Newcastle University and Co-Director for the Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment. He has a background in Architectural Design, Computation and Synthetic Biology and is author of the book Living Construction, editor for the Routledge Bio Design book series and Editor in Chief for the new Cambridge University Press Journal Biotechnology Design.
Area D: Design for Humans & Non-humans
Keynote: Modelling Across Scales in Biological Fabrication +
Engineering biology offers significant potential for the fabrication of new materials and structures, however, it also requires new computational modelling methods which bridge across scales. The presentation will look at the conceptual and practical basis of computational modelling for the biological fabrication of materials. It is possible to develop computational models which bridge between the expression of DNA (nano-scale) through to geotechnical models measuring tens of meters develop new CAD tools which simulate engineered biological systems to fabricate novel materials.

Kathrin is architect, researcher, and educator in computational design and robotic fabrication. In 2019, Kathrin joined the School of Engineering at the Technical University of Munich as a Tenure Track Professor to set up the Augmented Fabrication Lab. The research interests of her group are focused on collaborative fabrication processes, on-site robotics, and fabrication-aware design.
Area B: Design with Digital and Physical Realities
Keynote: Teaming up with Robots: Human-in-the-Loop Computational Design and Fabrication +
While computational design and construction robotics generally result in faster and more efficient workflows, leveraging human agents in the process could be a valuable and sustainable goal. The research presented in this talk aims to unlock new possibilities for architecture und digital fabrication through the integration of collaboration and cooperation concepts between humans in combination with highly autonomous machines.

Dehlia is a curator and philosopher of nature based in Copenhagen and Berlin. She holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Columbia University and currently leads the research project Rewilding the Museum (2021-2025) at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts & ARKEN Museum of Modern Art. She is co-editor of the Routledge Handbook of Art, Science, and Technology Studies (2021), and her recent book A Year Without a Winter (2019) was recognized as one of the Best Art Books for its exploration of cultural imaginaries of climate crisis.
Area D: Design for Humans & Non-humans
Keynote: Manifesto for a BLACKOUT +
In this moment of entwined environmental and political crises, this talk explores the aesthetic affordances of radically reduced energy dependence. Proposing a blackout as a collective thought experiment, disaster rehearsal, and art exhibition or festival, it asks: what forms of culture flourish when the power goes out? Can we design a moment in which energy infrastructures are suspended to positive effect? To limit climate change, we must dramatically reduce carbon emissions immediately. Blackouts—planned and unplanned—are not merely moments of crisis, but also opportunities to reconsider our priorities. Art and design must embrace blackout conditions and help us develop ways of living well in low carbon futures.

Felix is Assistant Professor of Architecture and Director of the Circular Construction Lab at Cornell University in the US. In addition Felix is founding partner of 2hs Architekten und Ingenieur PartGmbB in Germany. For his work he has received various awards and has also published numerous books and articles on the topic. Felix graduated from the Berlin University of the Arts and has been teaching and researching at universities around the world.
Area C: Design for Biosphere and Technosphere
Keynote: Design for Circularity: Tools and Methods for Reuse at Scale +
Closing the loop through design and engineering. The consistent closing of production and consumption loops offers possibilities to end the loss of valuable finite resources and reduce dependencies on global volatile resource markets, prevent greenhouse gas emissions, mitigate the effects of the climate crisis, and support new business models and green job opportunities. Although much of the theory has been developed over the past decades, the implementation of global circular economy aspirations into local construction practice has only just begun. Currently limited by the need for data on local material availability and specifications, new construction methods and technologies, and circular business models, realizing the circular economy requires a fundamental paradigm shift in the way we design, construct and manage our built environment. The Circular Construction Lab at Cornell University drives and supports the development of tools, methods, policies and strategies of design for circularity to support this shift towards scalable reuse in architecture.

Ingrid is Associate Professor of Architectural Technology at ABC Dept at Politecnico di Milano University and she is scientific coordinator of Material Balance Research Group. Her research focuses on exploring a contemporary material balance that could embedd environmental, social and cultural transformation into design process thanks to experimental demonstrators. She has written several books, papers and exhibited in Biennale of Architecture in Venice and in Milan Triennale.
Area C: Design for Biosphere and Technosphere
Keynote: Designing Innovative Material Systems: Matter, Technique and Culture +
The development of technical possibilities and material science has undergone an unprecedented advancement: it is now possible to program the properties of matter, visualize its structure with precision and compute it algorithmically thanks to digital tools. These possibilities, combined with the awareness of the environmental crisis, the need to optimize resources and manage the waste of human activity, open up a scenario of unprecedent design. How to imagine and build, on these foundations, a material culture which aims to give a precise interpretation of its time and which is also respectful of the archetypal roots of our society? Some examples will be given from Material Balance Research Group.