#805: The Frontiers of Speculative Design with Three Recent Graduates of Architecture

I speak with three recent graduates of architecture school about how they’re using virtual spaces for speculative design. Paula Strunden is working with the interface between physical objects and mixed reality environments. Nicholas Zembashi uses the architecture of virtual spaces to create 2D film essays exploring concepts of media theory and the ontology of space. And Sebastian Tiew uses real-time game engines to create speculative futures exploring the architecture of rehabilitative immersive experiences for people with mental illnesses and prisoners.

Strunden, Zembashi, and Tiew all presented at the Architecture for the Immersive Internet Symposium, and I had a chance to catch up with them the day after to debrief them on their major takeaways on the gathering and to reflect upon how immersive technologies and real-time game engines were changing the field of architecture.

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All three of them were highly influenced by the speculative design work of Keiichi Matsuda, who I interviewed back in episode #639 on the Voices of VR podcast. His HYPER-REALITY piece of speculative design for AR went viral, and has been a highly influential cautionary tale for the entire immersive industry. Zembashi, Tiew, and Nathan Su showed a series of video essays of architectural speculative design during the Architecture for the Immersive Internet Symposium that are embedded down below.

Here’s Keiichi Matsuda’s HYPER-REALITY:

Here’s Telescape & Terra Media by Nicholas Zembashi that showed during the Architecture for the Immersive Internet Symposium:

Here’s Angel’s Alone by Sebastian Tiew that showed during the Architecture for the Immersive Internet Symposium:

Here’s Through Leviathan’s Eyes by Nathan Su that showed during the Architecture for the Immersive Internet Symposium:

Here’s the trailer for Micro-Utopia by Paula Strunden:

Here’s the latest piece of speculative design from Matsuda called Merger

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Music: Fatality