On April 22nd, 2022, Dr. Noel was a keynote for the University of Pennsylvania Ph.D. Conference on Architectural Research with the theme, “Precarity.” In her talk, “Craft, Culture and Computing,” she presented the ‘precarities’ she addresses in her research and how she goes about addressing them.
On March 7, 2022, Dr. Noel gave a talk titled “Craft and Computation: Grounding our field in the social world” at the Media Arts & Technology (MAT) Seminar Series at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).
On February 10, 2022, Dr. Noel gave a guest lecture titled “Situated Computations, AI & Design” for the AI in the Built Environment course at the University of Florida College of Design, Construction, and Planning. She was invited by Prof. Karla Saldaña Ochoa with fellow presenters Nikola Marinčić, and Mathias Bernhard.
On January 18th, 2022, Dr. Noel gave a keynote titled “Grounded Approaches to Design | Equity | Data” at the American Institute of Architects (AIA) TAP Building Connections Congress 2022. In this talk, she touched on the history of data (collection, analysis, representation, design, presentation, and application) in planning, architecture, and their societal implications, especially in light of big data and artificial intelligence (AI) today. Dr. Noel presented what our approach should be to data and design so that it is equitable.
Dr. Noel has joined the University of Stuttgart’s Integrative Computational Design and Construction (IntCDC) Cluster as a Visiting Professor from October to December 2021.
“The Cluster aims to lay the methodological foundations for a profound rethinking of the design and building process and related building systems by adopting an integrative computational approach based on interdisciplinary research encompassing architecture, structural engineering, building physics, engineering geodesy, manufacturing and system engineering, computer science and robotics, social sciences and humanities.”
Read the announcement here >>>
On Thursday, Sept. 23rd, Dr. Noel gave a lecture titled, “Situated Computations, Craft + Technology” at MIT’s School of Architecture Fall 2021 Lecture Series in collaboration with the Design and Computation Group. In her lecture, she spoke about how we might reconfigure craft and cultural design practices through computation, and vice versa, how we might repair theories, tools, and methodologies in the field of design computation by looking into craft and cultural practices.
On Sept. 10th, we launched our Mozilla Foundation-funded project, “Artificial Intelligence + Carnival + Creativity.” In this project, we use the Trinidad Carnival as a vehicle and site for exploration and education in artificial intelligence (AI), art, and design. By combining AI, architecture, heritage, and art, we rethink and engage with Carnival and our diaspora in new creative ways.
carnival-ai.com
On July 4th, Dr. Noel was a recipient of the 2021 DigitalFUTURES YOUNG Award “for exceptional research and scholarship in the field of critical computational design.”
Dr. Noel’s project, “Design and Making in the Trinidad Carnival: Histories, Re-imaginations, and Speculations of Computational Design Futures” was one of the projects funded by The Graham Foundation.
About the Project:
“The Trinidad Carnival is a cultural design practice through which people express their creativity, aesthetic sensibilities, and craftsmanship around the world. […] The Design and Making in the Trinidad Carnival exhibit showcases […] new imaginations for design, interaction, and fabrication of architecture that include non-digital computational tools, novel software, computer-controlled machines, robots, and computer interactions. It argues that computation and computing can remediate and reconfigure dying crafts for new design pedagogy, practices, and architecture.”
On Wednesday, February 24th at 6pm EST/ 7pm AST, Dr. Noel will give a talk at the inaugural Robert H. Winters lecture series “Resistance as Practice: Acts of Anti-Racism through Architecture and Planning.” The event is hosted by the Dalhousie University Faculty of Architecture and Planning’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, in partnership with the SHIFT: Connect conference.
In January, Dr. Noel and her team won a grant from the Mozilla Foundation to examine and interrogate the connections between AI and Racial Justice. Titled, “Black Arts + Culture: Generative Traditions with AI and Design in Carnival,” the project uses AI to remix Black histories of design, art, and dance. Archival images of dancing sculptures from the Trinidad Carnival will be mixed with images of Black dancers across the diaspora in a single dataset. A machine learning model will then generate new designs based on this data. The resulting art will be presented via an online gallery and discussions.
From January 14–16, the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO will host “Art && Code: Homemade“, a free online festival featuring more than two dozen talks by creators who work with digital tools and crafty approaches to explore the neo-homemade. Presenters include: Vernelle A. A. Noel, Ari Melenciano, Leah Buechley, Laura Devendorf, Olivia McKayla Ross, LaJuné McMillian, and more…
On 5th December 2020, Dr. Noel will give a talk entitled “Situated Computations: Software-based practices and The Social” at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Architecture. The presentation is one of five in the Computational Design Lecture series for Fall 2020 , “The Digital Mundane.”
Dr. Noel will talk about how software-based practices reshape architectural ideas and labors, as well as how cultural design practices can reshape software-based practices, ideas, and labors.
On 28th of October 2020, Dr. Noel will be a Keynote Speaker at ACADIA 2020 Distributed Proximities conference. The talk is part of the session on Culture & Access.
The Keynote event features presentations by designers and scholars whose work deals critically with questions of computation, craft, and public engagement. Participants include Kate Hartman and Laura Devendorf.
“Computational design and data impact nearly every aspect of contemporary life and architecture and design practices. Ranging in accessibility from user-friendly social media to highly skilled programming, these technologies are informed by the exchange between a technology’s end-user and it’s author(s). In this context, what is a computational public? Who is the audience for computation design? How might computational design practices resonate beyond the academy or rarefied audiences?”