Chi She, Shanghai, Archi-Union, Philip Yuan, Director, Archi-Union, FEBRUARY 22, 2023

We live in the era when the subject-object relationship of architectural design needs to be re-pondered and reassembled, the era we usually call posthumanism. Facing global warming, geopolitical upheaval and the pandemic, while confronting the challenge of the mutual development of architecture and society, we need to redefine and rethink the relationship between globalization and locality to reflect the contradictions and the opportunities brought by the current trend of human-machine collaboration and Object Oriented Ontology. We, as architects, need to take a serious look at the parallel development of virtual and real worlds, and physical futures presents the challenge of an architectural ontological approach to thinking and design tools. The talk will explore this issue through my research and practice.
= = = = = = = = = = =
Philip F. Yuan is a professor at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP) at Tongji University, Thomas Jefferson professor at University of Virginia (UVA, 2019), the visiting professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, 2019), and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT, 2021). He is also the co-founder of DigitalFUTURES Association, Editor-in-Chief of Architectural Intelligence journal, and council member of UIA Professional Practice Commission (PPC).
Yuan is a pioneer in architectural intelligence and robotic fabrication, making achievements in both academic research and architectural practice. He emphasizes the integration of technological innovation and architectural culture, building environment and ethics, constantly seeking human-machine collaboration in the era of post-humanism.
Yuan’s research has over 19 publications in the realm of computational design and robotic fabrication. He has been invited to the lectures at NSF, INNOCHAIN, Harvard University, MIT, Columbia University, ETH, and has given speeches at world-class conferences such as ACADIA, CAADRIA, CAAD FUTURE, ROBARCH, FABRICATE in recent years.
Yuan has been awarded a variety of educational and design prizes, including 2022 AIA Open International | Architecture Honor Award, 2022 Dezeen Award Best Civic Building, 2020 ACADIA Innovative Academic Program Award of Excellence.
INTRODUCTION AND MODERATION
Tom Verebes
Professor, NYIT School of Architecture and NYIT School of Architecture & Design