AA DRL Programme Head Theodore Spyropoulos delivers the opening keynote lecture at this year’s DCIO 2021 in London

Theodore Spyropoulos, Programme Head of the AA DRL programme, delivered the keynote lecture in the Design Computation Input/Output Conference (DC I/O) in London last month. The annual conference aims to progress the understanding and application of computational design in relation to current global challenges.

Spyropoulos’ lecture was titled ‘Intelligence and Autonomy: Notes on the Artificial’ and presented a body of research that challenged dogmas within architecture and building in a world that is constantly changing. He commented:

‘The lecture champions an unapologetic belief that design and discourse permeates all aspects of life. Architecture here is a framework to explore, invent and respond to the challenges of today. It is a pursuit for an adaptive and enabling architecture that can evolve with us. The research presented in this lecture challenges the fixed and finite orthodoxies of building design for a latent and unknown world. Within the contemporary condition, new conceptual terrains emerge that raise questions of agency and intelligence within a deep ecology of our environment. The research examines scenario-based design through autonomous, artificially intelligent and self-structuring constructs. Post-disaster complexity, issues of mass migration, post-earthquake deployable housing and hospitals on demand are some of the challenges undertaken towards the development of an instantaneous response infrastructure.’