Architect of Things

Just imagine, some actors play the role of real architects and some real architects also play fictional roles. Let’s unravel the strange relationships between architecture and performance, as well as how these different worlds continue to interact around us, by chatting with actor Fritz Michel, who has played the role of an architect several times.

Like other complex works of art that confront the hard stuff and serious topics, architecture can be compelling drama and convincing comedy for theater. Today we’ll discover how a playwright reaches pluralistic audiences when architecture and theater come into play.

Design and data have always operated separately, but what happens when they collide? Let’s chat about a new data-driven design paradigm that challenges us to rethink our design process and practice. Our guest is Liana O’Cleirigh FRSA. Liana is an Interaction Designer having a ball pursuing an Ma/MSc in Global Innovation Design at the Royal College of Art & Imperial College London. She loves diving head first into complex creative challenges and collaborating with diverse teams. For over a decade, she had a pretty unusual job playing a character in a long-running Irish soap opera. As a result, she has witnessed the culturally transformative power of representation through storytelling, and has long understood the importance of challenging culturally accepted norms by introducing alternative narratives. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, winner of an RSA Student Design Award, and an Irish Design Institute Graduate Awardee.

What does it mean to architect a digital transformation? What exactly is a “Big Tech” architect and who exactly are building architects? Can these 2 types of architects be together on the metaverse? You'll hear from Robert Kerans and Nimeesha Chan. Robert is a Senior Technical Architect and Nimeesha is a PhD optimization researcher with the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at John Hopkins School of Engineering.

Original Publication: January 17, 2022  Why are NFTS so perfectly suited to represent other forms of architecture? Let's take a look at architect Glenn Grubb's historical journey from traditional practice to how NFTs fit in his work today. 

Original Publication: November 11, 2021 The future of cities and architecture is leaning towards Blockchain & NFTs - not just for the sake of the art but the economy and how we design spaces. Are you ready for these trends? Listen to what Zoë Camper FRSA, Krista Kim, Adrian Velicescu, moderated by Lira Luis FRIBA, FRSA, NCARB, CEM, LEED AP in this panel. Presented in partnership with Chicago Architecture Biennial, AoT, and ALLL x Leapfrog Project.

Original Publication: May 6, 2021 In recent years, new technology has opened up architecture and design in ways we never thought possible. We’ll explore a few of these possibilities and talk about how NFTs are inspiring creativity for doing new things and Virtual Practices! We will use examples such as the Mars House, the world’s first digital house sold on the NFT and Quantum Mirror, the world’s first physical NFT installation, to show how we could use NFTs as new opportunities for architecture and interior spaces including unpacking some potential challenges.

Original Publication: March 30, 2021  You’ll hear Minerva Montooth's story as Social Director in Mr & Mrs Frank Lloyd Wright’s social experiment that is the Taliesin Fellowship — and the decades of change it survived from the 1940s to the present, including lessons learned.