Discussing technology and 'architecture as transient media' with Güvenç Özel and Benjamin Ennemoser

February 19, 2021

The UCLA IDEAS Technology Studio is one of four studios offered as part of the M.S. in Architecture and Urban Design. There, students investigate the design of new media in digital and physical forms, including its potential to radically transform the human experience. The winter symposium, titled "Virtual Presence: Occupying New Realities," was held on Saturday, Feb. 20.

Winter Architecture in Extended Reality (XR) - Bohan Cheng, Yixuan Ye & Yunqi Lei. Image courtesy of UCLA AUD

"Architecture is currently at the cusp of a paradigm shift, where the environments we occupy are becoming increasingly virtual and mobile. Considered as an ecosystem of technologies rather than a tectonic assemblage of materials, architecture is shifting toward a non-static and non-physical form of experience. This opens up the potential for it to be considered as a transdisciplinary medium that merges the worlds of fabrication, gaming, and media design. 

The IDEAS Technology Studio, one of four studios offered as part of UCLA Architecture and Urban Design’s Master of Science in Architecture and Urban Design (M.S.AUD) program, investigates the design of new media in digital and physical forms and its potential to radically transform the human experience. Recognized as a leading research institution UCLA Architecture and Urban Design is also a part of the UCLA School of Arts and Architecture. This unique blend and integration of departments allow both students and faculty "to connect with other forms of creative cultural production."

In preparation for their upcoming virtual symposium, Virtual Presence: Occupying New Realities, I spoke with IDEAS Technology Studio instructors Güvenç Özel and Benjamin Ennemoser. Together we discuss the program, its goals, and the upcoming virtual event. Özel explains, "the goal of the symposium is to explore the notion of being present in virtual frameworks, one that re-imagines a cybernetic form of space that is fluidly responsive to crises- one that interprets architecture as transient media rather than a vessel that negotiates between the violence of nature and the body.""— Katherine Guimapang, Feb. 19 2021

This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the Archinect website.
Read more about Güvenç Özel and Benjamin Ennemoser.

Stay engaged. Use #UCLAarts to stay connected.