How will our spaces engage with us in the not so distant future? Will they understand us, comfort us, support us, in addition to providing us with shelter? Will buildings become more active participants in our cities? Could they help us be more productive, more present, or more connected to our surroundings? These are questions that have become reasonable with the exponential developments in computational processing power, sensing capabilities, data analysis, wireless communication, and the vast virtual and physical communities willing to share information, tools, and experience. While architecture has always had a somewhat tumultuous relationship with digital tools, we have entered a new chapter in the life of the built environment where the digital tools no longer simply replicate the analog more efficiently but instead completely redefine our relationship to buildings both as designers and as users. In this talk, that will be one part elegy to architecture’s strife with the digital world and three parts ode to architecture’s rebirth through a digitally integrated process and experience, I will present a set of interactive installations developed within LMN’s internal R & D group LMNts. The discussion will focus on how these prototypes allow us to engage directly with new tools and technologies, challenging us to develop workflows that help us design within hybrid physical/digital environments.
Plamena Milusheva is a multi-disciplinary designer who has been investigating the relationship between design and technology for the last ten years. Trained as an architect, her focus has been on the potential for technological advances to impact built environments at multiple scales, from design process to physical experience. After finishing her Masters of Architecture at UC Berkeley, she took a detour from architecture and spent several years in the Seattle tech and fabrication community. Since joining LMN’s Tech Studio, she has been combining her interest in electronics, digital fabrication, and software to push the practice of architecture through research, development of prototypes, and collaboration with other industries. She focuses on interactive environments and how access to new and future technological developments has the potential to impact the role of architects and how people understand and engage with spaces.