Agenda Category: Conference

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM
The Future of Humanitarian Design
www.humanitarian.design

May 13-14th, 2024
Head campus, Building H, H4.01 / Design Room, Bâtiment H, Avenue de Châtelaine 7, CH-1203 Genève

Humanitarian design is growing in influence. A variety of vocations – engineering, computer science, architecture, law, political science, and beyond – are increasingly seeking to design interventions of relevance for humanitarianism broadly conceived. But the status of such interventions remains unclear. For some, humanitarian design intensifies a longstanding critique of the apolitical nature of humanitarian action. For others, even more critical, it further enshrines a postcolonial logic of domination perpetuated through humanitarianism. But, at the same time, humanitarian design is here to stay and reflects a more generally accelerating entanglement of politics with digital, material, and technological ecologies. It has also – despite the criticisms – done much good and necessary work in different global contexts.

THE FUTURE OF HUMANITARIAN DESIGN (HUD) IS A RESEARCH PLATFORM EXPLORING CRITICAL YET PRAGMATIC MATERIAL, TECHNOLOGICAL, AND ARCHITECTURAL INTERVENTIONS FOR VIOLENCE PREVENTION ACROSS GLOBAL AND LOCAL HUMANITARIAN SPACES.

HUD explores humanitarian design through a radical trans- disciplinary and transvocational ethos, synthesizing the insights of social scientists, architects, development engineers, and practitioners. We focus our research on violence prevention in three contexts: detention settings; situations of forced mobility, and aid compounds. We do so with a global perspective but conduct core collaborative research in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Colombia. 

HUDʼs ultimate goal is to design material, technological, and architectural interventions that transcend the binaries that currently divide humanitarian design. Namely, we seek to develop interventions that are neither entirely critical nor entirely pragmatic, neither entirely politicized nor entirely depoliticized, neither entirely global (ʼone size fits allʼ) nor entirely parochial. Instead, HUD seeks to open up different futures that disrupt such binaries in humanitarian design. 

HUD is also cultivating a wider research collective drawing on the insights of scholars, practitioners, and civil society groups who push the boundaries of humanitarian design. Indeed, HUD is an open and experimental initiative. We embrace an agile approach to integrating the needs of diverse, sometimes conflictual, stakeholders, as well as an openness to taking risks and shifting directions to better explore the many possible futures for humanitarian design. 

HUDʼs core research is led through a collaboration between the Geneva Graduate Institute, the University of Copenhagen, HEAD – Genève, and the EssentialTech Lab at EPFL Lausanne. HUDʼs work also integrates humanitarian practitioners from leading organizations and key partnerships with research institutions in Colombia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Our work is supported by a Swiss National Science Foundation Sinergia grant. 

HUD Scientific Committee:
MAIA, Master of Arts in Interior Architecture, HEAD – Genève

Geneva Graduate Institute, IHEID
University of Copenhagen, KU
EssentialTech’s Humanitarian Division, EPFL
Project supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation Sinergia

Download the conference program here

 

PROGRAM

Monday, May 13th, 2024

08:30 – 09:00 Welcome – H4.01

09:00 – 10:00 Introduction – H4.01

10:15 – 11:45 Practices & Collaborations – H4.01
Hartmut Behr (Newcastle): Bridging Conceptual Thinking with Political Practice Under Conditions of Uncertainty
Brita Fladvad (NTNU): Humanitarian Design and “The Real Problem” in Times of Poly and Permacrises
Christine Andrä (Groningen): Swords to Ploughshares, Guns to Peace? Admixtures of the FARCʼs Weapons with Art, Memory, and Disarmament in the Design of Doris Salcedoʼs Fragmentos 

12:00 – 13:00 Public Keynote – Design Room
Tom Scott-Smith (Oxford): Humility and Autonomy: Two Lessons from Humanitarian Shelter Design 

14:00 – 15:30 Places & Spaces – H4.01
Francesco Casalbordino (Naples): The Denied Place: Empowering the Right to Dwell Inside Prisons Through Design Actions.
Laurin Baumgardt (Rice University): Meantime Architectures: Shack Innovations and Incremental Designs in Cape Town
Vytautas Jankauskas (HEAD):

 15:30 – 15:45 Break 

15:45 – 17:15 Gaming & Participatory Practices – H4.01
Anne Brinkman; Douwe Buis (Bureauensemble): Exploring Participatory Humanitarian Design Practices
Emmanuel Guardiola (Cologne Game Lab): Humanitarian Gaming 

18:00 – 19:00 Public Keynote – Design Room
Samia Henni (ETH Zürich): Architecture of Counterrevolution 

 

Tuesday, May 14th, 2024

08:30 – 09:00 Welcome – H4.01 

09:00 – 10:00 Technology & Counter-Designs – H4.01
Rodrigo Ochigame (Leiden): Historicizing Technological Alternatives and Counter-Designs
Francesco Ragazzi (Leiden): Critical Re-design and Re- Enactment as Methods to Interrogate Humanitarian Design
Julis Charlotte Koch (Geneva Graduate Institute): Deep Play? Notes on the Future of Human and Non-Human Vulnerability 

10:15 – 11:45 Futures and Transformations – H4.01
Ala Uddin (Chittagong University): Resilient Futures: Transformative Humanitarian Design for Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh
Jo Rose (York University): Climate Change and Humanitarian Aid
Riccardo Conti (Catalytic Action): Participatory Design with Children and Youth in Lebanon 

12:00 – 13:00 Public Keynote – H4.01
Juan David Reina-Rozo (Universidad Nacional de Colombia): Ethnofuturism, Design and Technodiversity: Towards Open Practice(s) 

14:00 – 15:30 Aesthetics – H4.01
Matthew Raj Webb (New York University): Fashion Design as Humanitarian Design: Elizabeth Bayley Willis and the United Nationsʼ Cold War Textile Diplomacy in India
Lisa Ann Richey (Copenhagen Business School): Utopian Demand in Humanitarian Communication Design? Ecological Observations from the 2022 Venice Art Biennale
Maryia Rusak (ETH Zürich): Regimes of Goodness or Good for Business? Pragmatic Lessons from Nordic Humanitarian Design Projects in East Africa 

15:45 – 16:45 Public Keynote – H4.01
Peter Redfield( University of Southern California): From Humanitarian Design to Technopolitical Imagination

MAIA, Master of Arts in Interior Architecture
Institute for Postnatural Studies
December 20-21, 2023

Join the online conference here.

The second edition of the Interior Ecologies conference, organized by MAIA, Master of Arts in Interior Architecture at HEAD – Genève, and the Institute for Postnatural Studies, will delve into the intersection between the built environment and new emerging ecologies. It will explore the impact of digitalization on interior architecture and its relationship to computational ecologies, social media, non-human relations, postnatural territories, video games, and artificial intelligence.

The conference will be fully online, with free registration and open access, and will integrate innovative formats of broadcast, fostering interaction between speakers, the audience, and AI-generated content. The event will feature a series of lectures, round tables, and experimental performances, showcasing the latest research and design approaches in architecture, ecology, and media.

The presentations will focus on various themes, including Ecologies of Media, which delves into the intricate relationship between digital platforms and the built environment. Challenging traditional notions of wilderness preservation, one presentation views Earth as a “rambunctious garden,” extending this approach to virtual worlds and advocating for a more environmentally intelligent game design. Additionally, Digital Environments and Video Games will be explored as innovative tools for designing and testing interior spaces, with a particular emphasis on discussions about the potential of virtual environments to simulate user experiences and behaviors, and the challenges involved in translating game dynamics into physical spaces. One presentation will envision a future with a massive city for Earth’s population, while a different exploration will propose a “transspecies architecture” that embraces collaboration between humans and other species.

The topic of Artificial Intelligence will prompt a critical examination of the use of AI algorithms in architectural design processes, the integration of smart systems into interior spaces, and the ethical and environmental considerations associated with post-natural design practices. The conference will research the intersection of human creativity and AI in post-natural design, using a custom-trained AI algorithm to study interior ecologies, including presentations exploring diverse perspectives from a multispecies viewpoint. Lastly, Psychic Ecologies will delve into the impact of interior architecture on human emotions, behaviors, and social relationships. The projects will investigate the meaning of space in an era of connectivity through performative lectures, with experts discussing the influence of elements such as color, texture, and sound on human and non-human cognition and perception. Overall, the conference will provide a unique online platform for interdisciplinary exchange and experimentation, fostering innovative approaches to analyze new interior ecologies.

Scientific Committee:
MAIA, Master of Arts in Interior Architecture, HEAD – Genève
Institute for Postnatural Studies, Madrid

Download the conference program here

PROGRAM

Wednesday, Dec 20^th, 2023

10:00 – 10:15
Javier F. Contreras, Roberto Zancan, Pablo F. Navone
Introduction

10:15 – 10:30
MAIA Students
Conference Brief

10:30 – 11:30
HPO (Riccardo Simioni)
The Low Poly Solitude
Twitch Lecture and Live Conversation
Q&A

11:30 – 12:30
María Esteban Casañas
Experimental Roundtable + Custom-Trained A.I. Algorithm
Roundtable Discussion with an A.I. Algorithm
Q&A

13:00 – 15:00
BREAK

15:00 – 15:45
Karl Kaisel
Island of Multitude
Video Screening and Presentation
Q&A

15:45 – 17:00
Alenda Y. Chang
KEYNOTE #1 – On Games as Rambunctious Gardens, or Ecological Game Design
Online Lecture
Q&A

17:00 – 18:15
Liam Young
KEYNOTE #2 – Planet City
Online Lecture
Q&A

 

Thursday, Dec 21st 2023

10:00 – 10:15
MAIA Students
Interior Ecologies

10:15 – 11:15
Uwe Brunner, Bettina Katja Lange, and Joan Soler-Adillon
#See You at Home – The Domestic Spaces as Public Encounter
Performative Online Lecture
Q&A

11:15 – 12:00
İlkyaz Samur Avcı & V. Şafak Uysal
Digital Ecologies, Performative Interiors, Pandemic Times
Performative Online Lecture
Q&A

12:00 – 13:15
Samaneh Moafi
KEYNOTE #3 – Situated Testimonies
Online Lecture
Q&A

13:15 – 14:15
BREAK

14:15 – 15:30
Beatriz Colomina
KEYNOTE #4 – Towards a Transspecies Architecture
Online Lecture
Q&A

15:30 – 16:45
Interview with Studio Meteora
Studio Meteora + MAIA Students

16:45 – 17:15
Colophon – Online Discussion
MAIA, Master of Arts in Interior Architecture (HEAD – Genève)
Institute for Postnatural Studies

MAIA, Master of Arts in Interior Architecture at HEAD – Geneva
Institute for Postnatural Studies
December 20-21, 2023

Call for contributions

The second edition of the Interior Ecologies conference, organized by MAIA, Master of Arts in Interior Architecture at HEAD – Geneva, and the Institute for Postnatural Studies, will delve into the intersection between the built environment and new emerging ecologies, exploring the impact of digitalization on interior architecture and its relationship to computational ecologies, social media, non-human relations, postnatural territories, videogames, and artificial intelligence. The conference will be fully online, with free registration and open access, and will integrate innovative formats of broadcast, fostering interaction between speakers, audience, and AI-generated content. The event will feature a series of lectures, round tables, and experimental workshops, showcasing the latest research and design approaches in interior architecture.

Contributions are welcome in any format (online talk, digital artwork, research process, experimental audio-visual essay, tiktok videos, etc) on the topics of:
– Ecologies of media, exploring the relationship between digital platforms and the built environment. We invite to examine the influence of social media on the design of public and private spaces, and the role of interior architecture in shaping social interactions and online identities.
– Digital Environments and Videogames as new tools for designing and testing interior spaces. Experts in game design and interior architecture are invited to discuss the potential of virtual environments for simulating user experience and behavior and the challenges of translating game mechanics into physical spaces.
– Artificial intelligence: The use of AI algorithms in architectural design processes, the integration of smart systems into interior spaces, and the ethical and environmental implications of postnatural design practices.
– Psychic ecologies: Investigating the role of interior architecture in shaping human emotions, behaviors, and social relationships. Experts in psychology, neuroscience, and interior design are invited to discuss the impact of color, texture, and sound on human cognition and perception, and the potential of interior architecture to promote mental and emotional health.

Overall, the Interior Ecologies conference will provide a unique platform for interdisciplinary exchange and experimentation, fostering innovative approaches to interior architecture and digital technologies.

Please send your contributions before September 26th 2023 to interiorecologies@gmail.com

Scientific Committee:
MAIA, Master of Arts in Interior Architecture, HEAD – Geneva (Javier F. Contreras, Roberto Zancan)
Institute for Postnatural Studies, Madrid (Pablo Ferreira, Gabriel Alonso, Matteo Guarnaccia)
Publishing:
Spector Books

For centuries, architectural theory, discourse and agency have been based on day and solar paradigms. References to night in Vitruvius’ De architectura, largely considered the founding text of western architectural theory, are residual and the same absence can be identified in the Renaissance treatises by Leon Battista Alberti or Andrea Palladio. It was not until the 19th and 20th centuries that the successive invention and institutionalization of artificial light in private and public spaces gradually transformed the agency of night in the architectural discipline. Never mind that leisure is mostly associated with night or that work activities increasingly occur in night shifts. Today we sleep one hour less than one hundred years ago. We keep working at night, socializing at night, living at night: time has become elastic. Since the invention of artificial light, the urban environment has seen human activity expand and intensify, forever transforming the means of material and cultural production. From casinos to nightclubs, movie theaters to corner shops, the identity of contemporary human beings and their domestic, professional and cultural spaces are inseparable from night.

By analyzing and studying “night scenes”, Nocturnal History of Architecture hopes to show how night is not only an area of precarity and insecurity (haunted), but also a laboratory for the development of new forms of living. The colloquium organized by the new Master in Interior Architecture at HEAD-Gen.ve proposes to use the lens of different environments and typologies that, throughout history, have shaped our notions of architecture, space and life. The seminar traces a path from ancient to early modern times, and from modernity to present time, using the nocturnal spaces that have determined current notions of architecture to question those same concepts. Over the course of four sessions, the colloquium will generate productive frictions and offer opportunities to expand our understanding of what architecture at night was and can be.