DESIGN YOURSELF
Masks Where Computers And Bodies Interact
Senior Faculty: Pablo Ros
Faculty: Cristian Rizzuti

Credits: Last breath, Dimitri Morozov aka ::vtol:  © 2020
“The operating principle of the object is fairly simple – the exhaled air (its pressure and flow rate) activates the generative process, which depends on the exhalation parameters and is managed by the air movement. The object does not require any special game technique, although any change in the breathing (either caused by physiological factors or environmental issues) is directly dependent on game dynamics and also on all the other parameters used to generate the reparative flow. “

 

SYLLABUS

One of the most fundamental functions of architecture is protection. The most basic protection of a human being in the body. Thus designing and enhancing the human body is, at its core, architecture. During this seminar, we will focus on the envelope of the body and foresee new capabilities for corporeal architecture.

The global, hyper-connected world we live in relies more and more on technology that connects people with things with machines, uniting the human with the artificial. This reality bears opportunities and also risks. In this seminar, we will envision a post-apocalyptic future where our technological civilisation has collapsed. Wars, natural catastrophes and global disease mark our seminar reality. In order for humankind to survive, we need to be disruptive. In this scenario, the only option humans have to avoid extinction is transforming ourselves in neo-cyborgs with digital powers and designing our new bodies. We will do it using our faces, designing masks to improve our damaged bodies and habitats.

In this Post Anthropocene Seminar, you will convert yourself into an architect who thinks beyond imagination to save the humans from a mass-extinction. We will design the body and face envelopes that help to transform the dystopia into a peaceful, healthy and dignified world.

Pushing the boundaries of digital craftsmanship, material recycling, fashion and interactive design, the seminar deals with the vision of the future and the necessary evolution of humans for their subsistence. We will discuss how our bodies will be shaped and extended in a future that is now, transforming ourselves into activists that design the body and the environment.

Credits: Cyrus Kabiru © 2020

In this context, Design Yourself, Masks where computers and bodies interact will focus on:

  • The production of your own digital body to save the world. The student will succeed using open source software, microcomputers and soft skin advanced technologies.
  • Reshaping your own flesh and brain through masks and body shells as a novel space for architecture.
  • Construct body envelopes that will recycle materials around us, as we live in a dystopian era where industrial production has disappeared.
  • Interconnect society for a better future with robotized environments and interactive landscapes that intersect with the real space of our bodies

Welcome to Design Yourself, a seminar for advanced bodies.

 Credits: Nikita Replyanski  © 2020

 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At course completion the student will:

  • Understand the human body as complex machinery that evolves and merges with the latest technological developments.
  • Rethink through design how to invert the global climate and sanitary emergency that are affecting us.
  • Adopt a critical position regarding the electronic invasion and sensor ubiquity in our daily lives. 
  • Construct interactive bodies, spaces and territories with sufficient knowledge on the developments and social impact of their methods.
  • Interact with other bodies different from the analogical: cyborgs, fractals, virtuals, immersive flesh will be designed by the student. 
  • Learn how to design and represent the interaction between the body and the environment.
  • Learn new technologies out of the boundaries of conventional architecture education.

 

FACULTY


Pablo Ros graduated as an architect obtaining a specialization degree in Structural Engineering at ETSAB. He received his Post Professional Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design (MSAAD) from the GSAPP at Columbia University in New York. After concluding the Advanced Architectural Research Program (AAR) at Columbia University, he is pursuing a PhD focused on Corporeal and Domestic Interaction.
He is a recipient of the Arquia-Fundación de Arquitectos´03, La Caixa’09, Gatsby Arts Foundation´12 and Kinne´12 grants. He has worked for different international practices, most notably Cloud 9 and Foreign Office Architects (FOA). He currently is Founder of Scanarq and multidisciplinary Ros+Falguera Arquitectura. His work has been awarded by the Mies Van der Rohe, FAD and Think-Space Prizes, amongst others.
Combining academic and professional experience he has been previously teaching at the Architectural Association of London, GSAPP Columbia University and Barnard College of New York.


Cristian Rizzuti is an interactive media artist working in Barcelona and Rome. Graduating in Visual and Multimedia Art, Cristian has achieved an M-IA Master course at IUAV University of Venice focusing on interactive immersive environments.
After his studies, Cristian has presented his works in major events and locations in Europe, such as Sonar Barcelona, MAXXI museum Rome, Venice Biennale, ZKM museum Karlsruhe. Always inspired by Science and mathematics, Cristian has focused his personal investigation on the role of human perception and the definition of synesthetic spaces and emotional sounds connected to the body.
Being inspired by digital arts, live media and interactive experiments, Cristian’s works can be described as light sculpture installations.