The Situated Computation + Design Lab, led by Vernelle A. A. Noel at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA.), is looking for a PhD student to join the Lab starting Fall 2024. I am especially interested in working with those motivated to explore critical, social, cultural, and political aspects of craft and cultural practices, technology, and society. Research interests include:

• Craft and making
• Vernacular practices and heritage
• “Lightweight” structures
• Critical computation
• Design pedagogy/ education

Expression of Interest:
If you are interested, please send the following to Vernelle A. A. Noel at vnoel@andrew.cmu.edu by December 15th, 2023:

Application Information:

• CMU-Architecture Graduate Program Open House – Monday 13, November 2023.
• Graduate Admissions Overview and Timeline – Application Deadline: February 1, 2024.

1. Craft Practices and Computation

The vision of this work is to conduct inquiry in craft for future technological, social, and cultural innovations, inventions, and advancements. I use design/ making, computation, and ethnographic methods as forms of inquiry and study the possibilities for new tools, frameworks, and methods. Two questions that drive this work are:

• How might computational ideas, methods, and technologies repair craft + cultural practices? and
• How might practices and labors in craft cultures repair computational ideas and theoretical frameworks?

Selected Publications >>>

————————————————

2. Vernacular practices, heritage + computation

Work in this area involves using and critiquing computational and digital technologies to conduct inquiry in heritage for new and imagined understandings and possibilities.

Selected Publications >>>

————————————————

3. Lightweight Structures

Work in this area takes a conceptual approach to “lightweight.” Based on the philosophy of Lucio Blandini, we consider lightweight beyond the physical to include using technology for structures to be light in terms of the environment, biomaterials, fabrication methods, social justice, etc.

Selected Publications >>>

————————————————

4. Critical Computation

This work involves recognizing and revealing the social, political, and historical entanglements of computational systems and technologies developed and used in design and construction. I use a Situated Computations approach which is an approach to computational design (research, practice, and pedagogy) that grounds our tools, methods, and theories in the social world by acknowledging the historical, cultural, and material contexts of design and making. It responds to a setting’s social and technological infrastructure and refuses to remain ignorant of the social and political structures that shape them. Some questions include:

• What critical tools, theories, and processes might we make part of our practices, pedagogy, and research to consider questions of justice?
• How are computational design tools, infrastructures, and practices implicated in systems of oppression?
• What new approaches, tools, and frameworks can repair computational design such that it refuses to remain ignorant of the structures that shape our theories and technologies?
• What role can design computation play in revealing questions of power, access, and ethics?

Selected Publications >>>

————————————————

5. Artificial Intelligence

In this area, we explore and conduct inquiries into developing and using machine learning systems and artificial intelligence in architectural theory, practice, and pedagogy. Here, we also use the Situated Computations framework as a point of departure for a new framework regarding data and its use in automated systems. Questions include:

• What machine learning systems and algorithms
• What are the implications for the humanities in architectural culture using AI systems in design?
• What might AI systems in architecture tell us about human intelligence, society, and culture?

————————————————

It is expected that Ph.D. students produce academic publications for conferences and journals during their time at Sit.Co.De. Skills and backgrounds may include:

• Design Computation/ architecture
• Media Studies
• STS (Science Technology Society) studies
• Interactive Computing
• Computer Science