Designing sustainable interaction through architecture

Abstract

The proposed work presents the architect as a multi-faceted designer. Contemporary architects not only design and build structures as was their main role in the ancient and Renaissance society, but also design complex physical and virtual systems, material and metaphysical flows encapsulated in hardware shells. As such they have had to evolve from builders to master planners, and from specialists in one field to cross-disciplinary experts. During my journey I have become convinced that the challenge of being an architect lies in seeing projects across scales simultaneously. It is about seeing the bigger picture, while refining the details, understanding the environment while finding creative ways in which to design within practical constraints. Last but not least, it is about honing the ability to interact effectively with other disciplines in order to deliver more optimal results. The presented projects demonstrate various aspects of design: designing perception (ACOUSTIC-onnection, Disco Mirage), designing and optimizing flows (Dairy Foodhub, Circular Economy research), designing complex trans-disciplinary systems (TECH-tackle). However, they are all unified by underlaying focus on sustainable and environmental designs. The cases clearly demonstrate the need for architects to be generalists as their predecessors while at the same time being experts and successfully tackling details in specific fields. This a role hard to fulfil by a single person. Therefore, I ask myself if it is not the right time to challenge the contemporary definition for architect and as they should even be a person with vast knowledge across disciplines or a collaborative team of experts.