Agenda Category: International Conference

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.