AI Sampling: On Plasticity and Form

AI Sampling: On Plasticity and Form
AI Sampling: On Plasticity and Form

Online

  • AA Visiting School

MSD at HOME and AA Visiting Schools Melbourne presents: Immanuel KOH

The lecture will discuss the generation of three-dimensional architectural forms as one that is increasingly (and inevitably) about the sampling of forms in n-dimensions. Whether it is the implicit sampling of forms from the continuous latent space of generative adversarial networks (GANs) or the explicit sampling of forms from the discrete probabilistic sequence of autoregressive models; today, to design with generative AI models entails a computationally plastic conception of programming and producing forms. It is by no coincidence that the concept of plasticity could be found in modern art (Neoplasticism) as well as in today’s neuroscience (Neuroplasticity). By means of a series of past and recent projects using machine learning and deep learning, the theory of architectural sampling will be brought forth during the lecture

Immanuel Koh

artificial-architecture.ai is the speculative and experimental design research arm of Artificial-Architecture based at the Singapore University of Technology & Design (SUTD). It is the space to not only explore the technics of the artificial, but also its epistemological, cultural, political and aesthetic implications through the expanded lens of the architectural, and vice versa.

Immanuel holds a joint assistant professorship between the schools of Architecture & Sustainable Design (ASD) and Design & Artificial Intelligence (DAI) at SUTD. Previously, he was based at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, doing transdisciplinary research work between the School of Computer Sciences and the Institute of Architecture. His doctoral studies, which was nominated for the EPFL Best Thesis Prize, interrogated the epistemological and formal basis of architecture, by reformulating a new design theory through the conceptual and algorithmic lens of architectural sampling in machine learning. Since graduating from the Architectural Association (AA) London, he has taught at the AA, Royal College of Art (London), Tsinghua University (Beijing), Strelka (Moscow), Angewandte (Vienna), DIA (Bauhaus Dessau), Harvard GSD, UCL Bartlett and many others. His design work has been exhibited internationally, such as at London’s V&A Museum, Shanghai’s 3D Printing Museum and Taipei’s Tittot Glass Art Museum; and published widely, such as in Architectural Design (AD) and Design Computing & Cognition. Immanuel has also practiced as an architect at Zaha Hadid Architects (London), as a programmer at ARUP with Relational Urbanism (London), and as a creative coder at Convergeo (Lausanne) and anOtherArchitect (Berlin). He is also the co-founder of the Neural Architecture Group (NAG) and aiarchitects.org.

Presentation and Q+A

Date: Wednesday, 14 July 2021

Time: 18:15 - 19:30 AEST* Melbourne (UTC +10)

Venue: Online - ABP Zoom Webinar

Event link: Once you have registered for the event, you will be sent the event link 2 days before the event and then again 2 hours before the event begins

* London: Wednesday, 14 July 2021, 09:15 - 10:30; BST
* Singapore: Wednesday, 14 July 2021, 16:15 - 17:30; SGT
* Dubai: Wednesday, 14 July 2021, 12:15 - 13:30; GST
* New York: Wednesday, 14 July 2021, 04:15 - 05:30; EDT
​* Los Angeles: Wednesday, 14 July 2021, 01:15 - 02:30; PDT

AA Visiting School Public Lecture Series:

Image Credit: Immanuel Koh, 2021

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