Design x Technology Lecture: Alejandra Castelao
2025-02-13 12:30 - 13:30 (America/Detroit) | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
Our next Spring 2025 lecture is a talk titled, From Craft to Strategy: Lessons from a Multidisciplinary Design Career

Watch this lecture on campus or online. Alejandra will speak in the LEAR Auditorium.

From Craft to Strategy: Lessons from a Multidisciplinary Design Career

In today’s interconnected world, design is more than just creating beautiful objects or interfaces—it’s about crafting experiences that seamlessly blend the physical, digital, and immersive. Over the past 15 years, my career has evolved from tactical, hands-on design in furniture and interiors in Mexico City to leading multidisciplinary teams in creating consumer electronics, healthcare experiences, and spatial design in San Francisco.
In this lecture, we’ll dive into the lessons I’ve learned along the way—how an iterative and flexible design process can unlock new opportunities, how to bridge the gap between strategy and execution, and how collaboration across disciplines drives innovation. Whether your passion lies in crafting tangible objects or shaping new user experiences, this session will inspire you to thrive in an ever-changing design and tech landscape.
This lecture will provide practical takeaways to help students tackle real-world challenges in design and tech. I will focus some of the topics on how to save time by applying iterative design processes that bring teams together and shorten timelines, finding ways to collaborate effectively across disciplines to break silos and unlock innovation, navigating uncertainty and ambiguity by learning to bridge the gap between strategy and tactical execution and finally how to position yourself for success in a multidisciplinary career by mastering skills that align with emerging industry trends in an ever-changing environment.

As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Lecture Series, this lecture is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details. Your on-campus registration includes a pizza lunch.

About Alejandra:
Alejandra is a Senior Experience Design Lead at Dolby Laboratories with over 15 years of experience in design, technology, and innovation. Specializing in Industrial and Interdisciplinary Design, she creates transformative experiences that blend physical, digital, and immersive realms.
Starting her career in Mexico City designing boutique hotels and restaurant interiors, Alejandra later transitioned to San Francisco, focusing on consumer electronics and emerging technologies like AR/VR. At Dolby, she leads multidisciplinary teams in delivering user-centered experiences, from creative direction and workshop facilitation to immersive spatial audio experience design.
Alejandra’s expertise spans healthcare UX, consumer hardware, spatial design, wearable products, and immersive experiences. Her design process is adaptable, emphasizing collaboration and leveraging emerging technologies to connect the dots between strategic thinking and tactical execution.
Outside of her professional work, Alejandra is passionate about mentorship, particularly for women in the design and tech industries. As the former Chair of the Women in Design IDSA SF Chapter, she has advocated for more opportunities for women to excel in these fields.
When not designing, she enjoys painting, whittling wood carvings, playing with the latest tech toys, and outdoor activities like fishing, crabbing and mussel harvesting.

Design x Technology Lecture: Ajla Akšamija
2025-02-17 18:00 - 19:00 | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
This lecture will talk about innovations in architectural design, how to integrate research with the design process and advanced technology

This lecture can be viewed on campus or online.

INNOVATIONS IN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN: Research and Advanced Technologies

Architectural designers are currently faced with many challenges—technological changes, environmental and economic impacts, necessity to innovate and raise the bar in building performance, and the paradigm shift in architecture with the wider adoption of advanced computational design and digital fabrication techniques. There are a number or reasons why progressive practices must continuously invest in research and implementation of advanced technologies, but the need to improve design processes and services is typically the overarching drive. Thus, research is becoming an essential component of contemporary practice and will be redefining the future of architectural profession.
This lecture focuses on innovations in architecture, relationships between scientific research and design, and the role of building performance research. It will discuss why is it necessary to embrace technological changes to improve design processes, products and services, as well as the recent developments in building technologies, materials, computational design and integration of scientific research with innovative design.
Participants of this lecture will learn about innovations in architectural design, how to integrate research with the design process, and they will learn about advanced building technologies.
Learning objectives:• Understand innovations in architecture and how they impact design practices and services• Evaluate specific design methods and technologies, and how to stimulate innovation in design practice• Understand relationships between research and design process, as well as implementation of advanced building technologies• Compare innovative design practices and approaches through case studies.

CEU: This lecture equals 1 professional architecture credit towards licensure requirements.
As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Lecture Series, this lecture is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details.

About Ajla:
Ajla Akšamija, PhD, LEED AP BD+C, CDT, FTI Fellow is a Professor and Distinguished Chair for Resilient Places at the School of Architecture, University of Utah. She directs the Transforming Places, Practices, and Pedagogies Collaborative (TP3C), a research unit within the School of Architecture. Her research expertise includes building science and sustainability, emerging technologies, digital design and representations, and innovations in architecture. Dr. Aksamija also served as the Chair of the School of Architecture at the University of Utah. Prior to joining University of Utah, she was a Professor at the Department of Architecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She also directed Perkins&Will Building Technology Laboratory (“Tech Lab”), one of the first practice-driven research laboratories focusing on advanced building technologies, high-performance buildings, computational design, and building facades. She has taught architectural design studios, advanced environmental building design, comprehensive studios and seminars. She has worked on developing building analysis and modeling applications, implementation of novel materials in architectural design, development of computational models, and has collaborated with researchers from material science, civil and environmental engineering and computational design.
Her recent book, “Research Methods for the Architectural Profession”, was published by Routledge in 2021. She has authored two previously published books, “Integrating Innovation in Architecture, Design, Methods and Technology for Progressive Practice and Research” (John Wiley & Sons, 2016) and “Sustainable Facades: Design Methods for High-Performance Building Envelopes” (John Wiley & Sons, 2013). Dr. Aksamija has contributed to several other books, and has published over ninety research articles and invited papers. She has presented at various national and international conferences, and is a frequent speaker at industry-based, scientific and academic conferences. She is the founder of the Perkins and Will Research Journal, and served as editor of this first peer-reviewed research journal from architectural practice for fourteen years. She served as the President of the Facade Tectonics Institute.

Design x Technology Lecture: Sung Ho Kim & Heather Woofter
2025-02-20 12:30 - 13:30 | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
Join us for another innovative Design x Technology lecture during our Spring 2025 semester!

This lecture can be watched on campus or online. Sung Ho and Heather will speak in the LEAR Auditorium.
Join Lawrence Technological University College of Architecture and Design for another important Design x Technology lecture featuring Sung Ho Kim Architecture Program Director at Kent State University and Heather Woofter Dean of the School of Architecture the University of Texas at Austin.

INVISIBLE PRACTICE

“Invisible Practice” introduces the works of Axi:Ome—a design practice led by Heather Woofter and Sung Ho Kim formerly in St. Louis and now in Cleveland and Austin. Presentation maps the trajectory of an architectural investigation into the processes explored through blending academic research with practice, challenging the boundaries of conventional architectural practice. From built constructs to conceptual investigations, which is the intricate dance between ideas and reality that uncovers the complexities that shape the contemporary environment by cartographing the legitimization of architectural practice that engages the pedagogical visions of the profession and the education.
Axi:Ome was formed in 2003 primarily as an architectural research practice of Heather Woofter and Sung Ho Kim. Currently, Heather Woofter is the dean at University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture and Sung Ho is the director of Architecture and Urban Design at Kent State University. Together they have balanced teaching with design practice, focusing on the concept that a building’s spatial form and innovation are inextricably woven to one another and that architecture’s progressive future lies in speculation, imagination, research and resolution of the intellectual development of design process.
This lecture will offer a sample of different types of practice for students and young architects into developing a body of work that defines one’s agenda in the world and describe how a regional practice can gain global perspectives by developing projects with research-based explorations about culture, environment, economics and history.

CEU: This lecture equals 1 professional architecture credit towards licensure requirements.
As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Lecture Series, this lecture is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details. Your on-campus registration includes a pizza lunch.

About Sung Ho and Heather:
Heather Woofter studied biochemistry as a teenager at the University of Maryland and chemical engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. She received a Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Master of Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She was a project architect and manager for Bohlin Cywinski Jackson in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Marks Barfield in London, UK and Robert Luchetti Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is a registered architect in Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Missouri and has a Royal Institute of British Architects Parts I and II. Heather taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design Career Discovery Program, Boston Architectural College and Roger Williams University. She was an Assistant Professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Visiting Professor at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and Konkuk University in Seoul, Korea. She was an endowed Sam and Marilyn Fox Professor and Director of College of Architecture and Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design at Washington University in St. Louis. Currently, she is the Dean at School of Architecture at University of Texas in Austin. Heather is a founding Co-Director and Owner of Axi:Ome llc with Sung Ho Kim since 2003.
Sung Ho Kim studied drawing and sculpture as a teenager at the Art Students League of New York and Harvard Graduate School of Design Career Discovery Program. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Architecture from Rhode Island School of Design and an AA Diploma from Architectural Association of London, UK with Royal Institute of British Architects Part I and II. He also received his Master of Science in Architecture Studies from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a project designer for Nasrine Seraji in Paris, France and Wellington Reiter in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He served as a principal researcher for the Interrogative Design Group at Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT. Sung Ho taught at Rhode Island School of Design and was an Assistant Professor at Northeastern University. He was a Visiting Professor at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and Konkuk University in Seoul, Korea. He was an endowed Raymond E. Maritz Professor of Architecture and engaged in research with Biology and Computer Science at Washington University in St. Louis. Currently, he is the Director of Architecture Program at Kent State University. Sung Ho is a founding Co-Director of Axi:Ome llc with Heather Woofter since 2003.

Design x Technology Lecture: Andrew Shea
2025-03-18 12:30 - 13:30 | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
Welcome to another innovative Design x Technology lecture during our Spring 2025 semester.

This lecture can be watched on campus or online.

Posters to Al: Shaping Trajectories of Design for Social Innovation
The practice of design mirrors its time: reflecting societal values, technological advancements, and pressing challenges. From the evocative power of posters rallying social movements to the disruptive potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in redefining creative boundaries, design’s trajectory provides a compelling lens through which we can examine how innovation shapes society. In “Posters to AI: Shaping Trajectories of Design for Social Innovation,” I will speak about the evolution of design for social innovation, focusing on how designers adapt to and critique emerging tools and methodologies to address complex societal issues—tracing the path from analog communication to automated systems.
This talk will touch on the evolution of media, such as posters and physical artifacts before pivoting to the transformative role AI is playing in reshaping the creative process. Central to this exploration are the critical questions designers face: How can AI be integrated thoughtfully into creative practices without undermining human agency? How can we ensure equitable representation and inclusion in the datasets that inform AI systems? What strategies will protect originality and cultural authenticity in an era of generative design? And how can we interrogate the dual nature of AI—as both an empowering tool democratizing creativity and a disruptive force that risks diminishing human skill and ingenuity? Ultimately, Posters to AI seeks to inspire designers to harness their creativity and ethical sensibilities to shape the trajectory of innovation—prioritizing human dignity, equity, and sustainability in a rapidly changing world.
Participants will gain an understanding of how design has evolved, helping them connect historical approaches to modern challenges and position their work within a broader trajectory of social innovation. The lecture provides practical ethical frameworks to address pressing AI concerns like, bias, cultural authenticity, and human agency, and will equip designers to navigate the complexities of integrating AI into their creative processes.

As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Lecture Series, this lecture is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details. Your on-campus registration includes a pizza lunch.

About Andrew:
Andrew Shea is Associate Professor of Integrated Design at Parsons School of Design, and Associate Dean of Parsons’ School of Design Strategies and Founding Creative Director, MANY. His research has focused on the role that designers play in social innovation projects, place-based design’s role to produce behavior change, and the ethics of artificial intelligence. He is the founding creative director of MANY (manydesign.org), a communication and service design studio that designs physical spaces, collaborative experiences, and platforms to support creative communities and elevate civic, educational, and environmental initiatives.
Andrew has written extensively about the evolving field of design for social innovation and his most recent, co-authored book is Design for Social Innovation: Case Studies from Around the World (2021), which marks the first attempt to define the global contours of the cultural, economic, and organizational levers propelling design for social innovation forward today. His other publications include LEAP Dialogues: Career Pathways in Design for Social Innovation (2016), and he authored Designing for Social Change: Strategies for Community-Based Graphic Design (2012).
His design and writing has been featured by publications like Fast Company, Slate, Design Observer, 99 Percent Invisible, Core77, Slate, Print, Entrepreneur Magazine, How, Communication Arts, and Impact Design Hub. Andrew regularly speaks about design at schools, conferences, and at public events like TEDx. He has served as an advisor for various organizations and initiatives like Impact Design Hub and Human Impacts Institute, and on juries for Sappi Ideas That Matter, Design Ignites Change, Archinect, and the Center for Urban Pedagogy. Andrew received his MFA in Graphic Design from Maryland Institute College of Art.

Design x Technology Lecture: Bonny Slater
2025-03-20 12:30 - 13:30 | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
Join us for a Design x Technology lecture featuring Co-Global Healthcare Practice Leader at Gensler, Bonny Slater.

Enjoy this lecture on campus or online.

Designing the Future of Healthcare
Sustainability in healthcare design typically revolves around optimizing traditional buildings within established health systems. But what if we embraced a broader perspective, considering sustainability at the system level? Imagine if we redesigned service delivery and infrastructure to not only combat climate change but also to improve community health outcomes. Could such innovations also address the industry’s financial, staffing, and equity challenges?
This session will explore the two-year research and design effort by the Gensler Research Institute around the Future of Healthcare. The outcome was a thought-provoking proposal: an integrated ecosystem that reimagines the distribution of healthcare, social services, and community support. The vision aims to conserve valuable resources—both financial and environmental—while simultaneously enriching the human experiences, advancing health equity, and leveraging cutting-edge advancements in science and technology. This session will explore:
•The importance of environmental health in improving social determinants of health.
•Technology’s role in the reduction of carbon emissions.
•Cooperative competition fostering alliances that combine resources for mutual gain.
•Mass timber in hospital construction.
The session will review the ecosystem’s components and impacts, which includes a redistribution of care into the home, community health hubs, advanced ambulatory care centers, and a critical-care community hospital, followed by a deep dive into the carbon-neutral design strategies for a community hospital of the future.
Learning Objectives:
1. Analyze the potential impacts of redesigning service delivery and infrastructure in healthcare to address climate change and improve community health outcomes.
2. Evaluate the hypothesis that a focus on improving community health can positively impact various industry challenges such as climate, financial, staffing, and equity issues.
3. Explore key areas of inquiry identified by the team, such as social determinants of health, shifting care settings, technological contributions to reducing healthcare’s carbon emissions, and cooperative competition.
4. Assess the potential of sustainable design strategies, including reduced physical infrastructure, the use of mass timber construction, and the adoption of 100% electric design in healthcare facilities.

CEU: This lecture equals 1 professional architecture credit towards licensure requirements. LTU is not a registered AIA CE provider. By virtue of having a NAAB-accredited architecture program, the State of Michigan authorizes LTU to offer continuing education credit.
As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Lecture Series, this lecture is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details. Your on-campus registration includes a pizza lunch.

About:
Bonny Slater is a Co-Global Healthcare Practice Leader and Design Director at Gensler. She has spent 20 years creating inspiring environments to support health and wellness for diverse populations. With a background in design and environmental psychology, she brings a unique perspective and research-driven approach to crafting meaningful experiences by supporting physical, cognitive, emotional, and spiritual needs.
Bonny’s Research has included the study of color in immersive environments, design considerations in behavioral health facilities, and the cultural implications of evidence-based design. Her recent work focuses on the connections between engagement, design, and population health in vulnerable communities. Her Research has been featured in Contract and Metropolis magazines and have garnered national recognition through ASID’s Outcome of Design Award and The Caritas Project’s Generative Space Award. An active Thought Leader, Bonny has presented her research at national conferences including Healthcare Design, Healthcare Facilities Symposium, and NeoCon, and is a frequent contributing writer to Gensler Dialogue and former editor of Contract’s “Designing for Health” online series.
As a Designer, Bonny’s work has included academic medical centers, community health centers, foreign hospitals, and prototype wellness facilities. Her work has been featured in Metropolis, Contract, Healthcare Design and Architectural Record. In addition to various project awards, in 2018 Bonny was honored as an ASID Ones to Watch Scholar and Design Excellence award recipient.

Design x Technology Lecture: Christian Unverzagt
2025-03-28 18:00 - 19:00 | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
Join Lawrence Technological University College of Architecture and Design for another innovative Design x Technology lecture.

This lecture can be watched on campus or online.
Design Director of M1DTW Architects, Christian Unverzagt will speak on Notes on a Practice.
Christian Unverzagt is a Detroit-based multidisciplinary designer who founded M1DTW, a nationally recognized architecture and creative studio in 2000. Since that time he has worked to reshape practice through both the work of the practice and by working on the practice.
M1DTW was recently recognized with a Best of Practice Award in the Small Firm category from The Architect’s Newspaper (AN) for its project portfolio and its Notes on a Practice, a collection of reflections on various positions taken by the firm in running a practice. AN’s Executive Editor Jack Murphy summed it up: “The office has an attitude that appears to value engagement with the realities of practice, from proper payment of workers to client satisfaction. It helps that their work backs up the idea, as it transforms what could be mundane locales into considered sites for Midwestern life.”⁠
Unverzagt, who is also an associate professor of practice in architecture at Taubman College will discuss several pivotal projects of the firm’s first twenty-five years of designing books, brands, buildings, and more.

Notes on a Practice could have alternatively been titled, How Not to Start a Practice, and is beneficial for any student of design interested in finding ways to put their work into practice. The lecture will showcase a series of projects, mostly built in Michigan, and will discuss the design process and outcomes at multiple scales, understood within a field of a number of critical positions relative to labor, investment, time, and effort. Come check it out!

CEU: This lecture equals 1 professional architecture credit towards licensure requirements. LTU is not a registered AIA CE provider. By virtue of having a NAAB-accredited architecture program, the State of Michigan authorizes LTU to offer continuing education credit.
As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Lecture Series this lecture is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details.

About:Christian Unverzagt is an associate professor of practice in architecture at Taubman College. He also founded Detroit-based M1DTW, a nationally recognized architecture and creative studio working to reshape practice. M1DTW’s projects range from creative workspaces to commercial lifestyle spaces, adaptive reuse projects, and residential work. Select clients include Floyd, Signal-Return, Mills Pharmacy, 6 Salon, Library Street Collective, Eastern Market Corporation, and Samsung. Unverzagt has received numerous awards for his work, including over a dozen honor awards from AIA Michigan and AIA Detroit, a NAHA for Best Salon Design in North America, and a “50 Books/50 Covers” award from the American Institute of Graphic Arts for one of the best-designed books of the year. M1DTW was recently recognized with a Best of Practice Award from The Architect’s Newspaper in the Small Firm (Midwest) category for its project portfolio and its Notes on a Practice. His work has been widely published in outlets including Dezeen, Wallpaper, Fast Company, The Architect’s Newspaper, Detroit Design Magazine, Estetica Italia, Salon Today, Architectural Record, and Azure Magazine. Unverzagt teaches graduate design studio at Taubman College where he has taught since 1999, is the faculty advisor for Dimensions, the student-produced journal of architecture at Michigan, and teaches the Dimensions workshop each year. Unverzagt is a long-time resident of Lafayette Park, Detroit, where he is an active community member, founding MiesDetroit.org to help steward the neighborhood’s design legacy while fostering awareness and discussion of its contemporary condition.

Design x Technology Lecture: Alexis Kim
2025-04-01 12:30 - 13:30 | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
Join CoAD for another important Design x Technology lecture featuring Sr. Principal, Sr. Workplace Strategist with SmithGroup, Alexis Kim.

Attend this lecture on campus or online.
Strategy: A New Discipline in Design and Technology
The world is undergoing rapid and dramatic changes. According to McKinsey, “artificial intelligence has the potential to be as transformative as the steam engine was to the 19th-century Industrial Revolution.” What implications does this hold for design and the design industry? While we may not yet have definitive answers, it is clear that both the approach to design and the profession must evolve.
Design, as a creative problem-solving discipline, is confronted with increasingly complex challenges on a daily basis. The integration of the digital world adds layers of complexity while simultaneously streamlining and enhancing solutions. In this context, strategic thinking and approach can thrive with a potential to position us as leaders rather than followers in a technology-driven world.
Through real-life examples and experience in deploying strategic thinking, this session will offer a dynamic conversation on the role and value of strategy. It will explore how strategy as a discipline can help us rethink not only design methods but also their underlying purposes. The discussion aims to provide insights into applying these concepts to our work as well as professional paths, ensuring a viable future.
Participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of the foundational principles of strategy while challenging the traditional concepts of design and the design thinking process. Through real-world examples, they will learn what it means to develop design-related strategies, elevating problem-solving to new heights. Additionally, they will learn to recognize technology as a crucial component in uncovering problems and devising innovative solutions through data integration and advancing tools, while balancing human-centric engagement and outcomes.
By grasping the strategic approach framework, participants will also explore applications across various industries and apply this thinking to their career paths. They will learn how to design their own strategic and adaptable future in an increasingly digital world, positioning themselves with a unique value proposition.

CEU: This lecture equals 1 professional architecture credit towards licensure requirements. LTU is not a registered AIA CE provider. By virtue of having a NAAB-accredited architecture program, the State of Michigan authorizes LTU to offer continuing education credit.
As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Lecture Series this lecture is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details. Your on-campus registration includes a pizza lunch.

ABOUT: As the leading workplace strategist for SmithGroup’s National Workplace Practice, Alexis has spent 28 years harmonizing the built environment with the human experience. A respected thought leader and change agent, Alexis’s work is grounded in the conviction that strategic solutions, whether design-related or otherwise, can drive successful outcomes.
Alexis possesses unique expertise, integrating a strategic mindset with data- and research-driven solutions to projects of all scales. She has developed innovative solutions for Fortune 500 clients, solving complex business and space challenges nationwide.
Committed to evolving her role and profession to meet the demands of an increasingly connected world, Alexis acts as a catalyst, integrating the physical and digital realms to better connect businesses and people.
Her personal journey embodies change. Born and raised in South Korea, Alexis moved to the U.S. as a teen, forging a career from coast to coast. These diverse experiences provide unique perspective for her work. Her transformation continues as she delves deeper into research, data analytics, and organizational design, while pursuing personal interests such as pottery, travel, and learning new languages.

Design x Technology Lecture: Daedra Christoper
2025-04-15 12:30 - 13:30 | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
Join us for an innovative Design x Technology lecture featuring Senior Designer at Zenimax Online Studios, Daedra Christoper.

This lecture can be watched on campus or online.
Join Lawrence Technological University College of Architecture and Design for an innovative Design x Technology lecture featuring Senior Designer at Zenimax Online Studios, Daedra Christoper.
Designing the Future: How Level Design Shapes Architectural Thinking
In the ever-evolving fields of game development and architecture, shared principles of spatial design are unlocking new possibilities for innovation. From Pixels to Blueprints: How Level Design Shapes Architectural Thinking explores how tools and methods from game level design, particularly Unreal Engine, can empower architects to rethink spatial flow, storytelling, and user-centric design. By examining case studies, cross-disciplinary techniques, and emerging trends, this lecture will provide actionable insights for both architects and game designers.
Participants will learn to streamline their workflows through digital prototyping, reduce design risks by visualizing spaces in Unreal Engine, and create environments that resonate emotionally and functionally. Architects will discover how level design principles, such as navigational clarity and environmental storytelling, address challenges like accessibility, engagement, and innovation. Game designers will benefit from architectural insights, enhancing the realism and functionality of their virtual worlds.
Attendees will leave equipped with practical skills to save time, foster collaboration, and tackle challenges in design clarity and user experience. This session is ideal for professionals eager to bridge digital and physical spaces, overcoming traditional barriers with modern, creative solutions.

As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Lecture Series, this lecture is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details. Your on-campus registration includes a pizza lunch.

About: Daedra Christopher is a veteran game designer with a storied career contributing to some of the gaming industry’s most iconic FPS franchises, including Call of Duty, Warzone, and Halo. Her expertise spans level art and design, but her true passion lies in worldbuilding, crafting immersive levels and gameplay experiences. Combining hands-on expertise with a vivid imagination, Daedra has made invaluable contributions to the teams she’s worked with, helping to create games that resonate deeply with players.
A former professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, Daedra’s dedication to education and mentorship is evident in the countless hours she has spent guiding students and newcomers into the gaming industry. Encouraged by her peers, she has authored an upcoming book that curates her extensive job-seeking advice for aspiring game developers, slated for release this year. As an active member of her local IGDA chapter and a frequent speaker at game conferences, Daedra continues to champion the next generation of developers, offering guidance on breaking into both indie and AAA game development.
When she’s not helping others, Daedra can be found lost in science fiction or fantasy novels—she’s a voracious reader—or playing her favorite FPS, crafting, or RPG games. Her boundless enthusiasm for gaming and storytelling fuels her drive to create and inspire others in the industry.

Architecture is Not Neutral
2025-09-09 12:30 - 13:30 | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
Festival RIGENERA’s initiatives will be brought to LTU CoAD in the form of a lecture and exhibition with our Italian counterparts

Join the College of Architecture and Design at Lawrence Technological University for our first Design x Technology Series event for the Fall 2025/26 semester featuring speakers all the way from Italy!
Architecture is not neutral: it can be part of the problem or part of the solution.The climate challenge won’t be overcome through technical mandates alone, but by making the ecological transition something people desire.
We no longer need “sustainable” architecture – we need architecture that is effective, light, appropriate, that improves people’s lives, and doesn’t need to justify itself.
We can’t change the world out of obligation; we must do it out of desire.
What we need is a new way of designing: not buildings bloated with technology, but spaces that are simple, adaptable, beautiful, and connected to life. Because what truly works doesn’t need to prove anything.
Sustainability isn’t something you preach – it’s something you live, design, and desire.And the future of architecture begins here.

Speakers:
Andrea Rinaldi – Architect, Lecturer of Architectural and Urban Composition at the Department of Architecture of the University of Ferrara.
Maddalena Fortelli — Architect and urban planner with extensive experience in territorial planning, urban design, and city regeneration.
Serena Foracchia — consultant and expert in European project design, international relations, and professional training.
Moderator: Sara Codarin — Assistant Professor, LTU CoAD.

Join us for a reception at 12:00PM, BEFORE the lecture to view the exhibition. Enjoy authentic Italian appetizers and pastries.

This lecture offers participants – students, young architects, and professionals – the opportunity to gain a new perspective on addressing the ecological challenge in architecture not as a technical constraint, but as a field of design possibilities.Through a critical and visionary approach, the lecture will explore tools and strategies capable of guiding design toward lighter, more effective, and contextually appropriate solutions – reducing reliance on technological complexity and encouraging spaces that are more adaptable, inclusive, and connected to real life.
Participants will be able to sharpen their design judgment, saving time in selecting the most suitable solutions, avoiding outdated and standardized approaches, and facing today’s environmental, cultural, and social challenges with greater awareness.The lecture aims to remove cultural and operational barriers that hinder a true ecological transition in architectural design, offering an integrated perspective that combines desire, effectiveness, and responsibility.
An opportunity to reflect – and act – on a new way of inhabiting the future.

CEU: This lecture equals 1 professional architecture credit towards licensure requirements. ​​
Please note that LTU is not a registered AIA CE provider. By virtue of having a NAAB-accredited architecture program, the State of Michigan authorizes LTU to offer continuing education credit. A list of state-approved HSW subjects can be found on their licensing website by searching the page for ‘ HSW subjects for continuing education’.
As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Lecture Series, this lecture is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details.

Design x Technology Series: Mohamed Ismail
2025-09-23 12:30 - 13:30 | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
Building (for) More With Less will showcase novel ways structural design can play a role in affordable housing.

Come to CoAD for our next interesting Design x Technology Series lecture featuring Mohamed Ismail, Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Virginia School of Architecture and the Director of the Open Structures Research group. His talk titled, Building (for) More With Less will showcase novel ways structural design can play a role in affordable housing, sustainable construction, and equitable development.
Building (for) More With Less
Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs) are increasingly vulnerable to climate-related threats while struggling to meet the demand for urban construction and affordable housing. A major reason for this is the high cost of materials, which can comprise 60-80% of the total cost of residential construction, yet their construction resembles the inefficient practices of More Economically Developed Countries (MEDCs) that were developed to reduce labor over material costs. Unfortunately, designers do not typically have access to optimization methods that enable the design of fabricable, low-cost, and low-carbon structures. Addressing the gap between optimization research and design practice, this research advances design methods that reduce the material costs and embodied carbon of affordable housing construction that meets local codes and constraints.
Participants will learn about novel ways structural design can play a role in affordable housing, sustainable construction, and equitable development. They will be introduced to accessible methods of shape optimization, low-carbon structural analysis, and fabrication aware computational design. They will be introduced to accessible methods of shape optimization, low-carbon structural analysis, and fabrication aware computational design.

🛂 CoAD Freshman, this event counts towards your Experience Passport.
CEU: This lecture equals 1 professional architecture credit towards licensure requirements. ​​
Please note that LTU is not a registered AIA CE provider. By virtue of having a NAAB-accredited architecture program, the State of Michigan authorizes LTU to offer continuing education credit. A list of state-approved HSW subjects can be found on their licensing website by searching the page for ‘ HSW subjects for continuing education’.
As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Lecture Series, this lecture is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details.

About: Mohamed Ismail is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Virginia School of Architecture and the Director of the Open Structures research group. Open Structures advances structural design and fabrication methods that enable sustainable development. Ismail’s research engages with nonprofit organizations, industry partners, and a global network of academics to design and develop low-cost, low-carbon structural components for housing in developing regions like Kenya, India, and Mexico.

Designing with Intelligence: an AI Collection of Speculative Objects
2025-09-25 17:30 - 19:00 | Detroit Film Theatre, 5200 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI, 48202
A Detroit Month of Design event with industry experts at the Detroit Institute of Arts

During the 2025 Detroit Month of Design, Lawrence Technological University (LTU) College of Architecture and Design (CoAD) will present an innovative event exploring the intersection of AI technology and design. AI-generated works will be showcased during a panel discussion as part of the Detroit Month of Design, offering a fresh perspective on historical and contemporary design through the lens of emerging technologies.
The panel discussion being held in the Detroit Film Theater at the Detroit Institute of Arts will include experts who will debate how AI can be integrated into design practices, its impact on art and design, and how LTU is preparing the next generation of designers and architects to use these tools effectively. This event highlights how AI is shaping the future of design, fostering innovation, and bridging the city’s industrial past with its digital future.
Panelists:
Jason Vigneri-Beane — Professor, Pratt School of Architecture
Humbi Song — Assistant Professor and Emerging Architect Fellow, University of Toronto
Shelley Selim — Detroit Institute of Arts, Mort Harris Curator of Automotive, Industrial, and Decorative Design
Curry J. Hackett —Teaching Associate in Urban Planning and Design, Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Thank you to our location sponsor:

Design x Technology Series: Tasoulla Hadjiyanni
2025-10-07 12:30 - 13:30 | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
Discussing research from disparities, sex trafficking, mental health, and heritage in war.

Design for Social Impact
Tuesday, October 7, 2025
12:30 – 1:30 PM
On campus and virtual
Come to CoAD for our next Design x Technology Series lecture featuring Tasoulla Hadjiyanni – Northrop Professor, Distinguished Global Professor, Interior Design at the University of Minnesota. Her talk titled, Design for Social Impact will allow her to reflect on how she found her purpose through her research with disparities, sex trafficking, mental health, and heritage in war as well as how she positions design as an agent of change.

🛂 CoAD Freshman, this event counts towards your Experience Passport.
CEU: This lecture equals 1 professional architecture credit towards licensure requirements. ​​
Please note that LTU is not a registered AIA CE provider. By virtue of having a NAAB-accredited architecture program, the State of Michigan authorizes LTU to offer continuing education credit. A list of state-approved HSW subjects can be found on their licensing website by searching the page for ‘ HSW subjects for continuing education’.
As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Lecture Series, this lecture is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details.

BIO: Tasoulla Hadjiyanni, Ph.D. is Northrop Professor and Distinguished Global Professor of Interior Design at the University of Minnesota. A refugee from Cyprus, she started to unravel how design, culture, and identity intersect under conditions of displacement with her book “The making of a refugee – Children adopting refugee identity in Cyprus” (Praeger, 2002). She later founded Culturally Enriched Communities and Design Against Trafficking to advocate for built environments where everyone can thrive through exhibits, films, blogs, a TEDx presentation, and social media. Dr. Hadjiyanni’s latest book “The right to home – Exploring how space, culture, and identity intersect with disparities” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) features stories of Hmong, Somalis, Mexicans, Ojibwe, and African Americans in Minnesota to explore how elements of interiors support or suppress meaning-making processes, delineating the production of disparities. Dr. Hadjiyanni’s award-winning teaching pedagogies have been used to decolonize design education and nurture global citizens.

LTU CoAD’s Distinguished Architecture Alumni Award
2025-10-20 18:30 - 20:30 | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
Join us in congratulating Tiffany Brown as she becomes part of an elite group of LTU’s Architecture + Design Alumni.

LTU CoAD’s Distinguished Architecture Alumni Award

LTU CoAD is thrilled to announce that the DAAA committee has chosen Tiffany Brown as the recipient of the 28th annual LTU Distinguished Architecture Alumni Award! Join us in congratulating Tiffany as she becomes part of an elite group of LTU’s College of Architecture Alumni.
Tiffany Brown: The Architecture of Change
Tiffany Brown’s accomplishments lie not only in her architectural projects but also in her transformative leadership, advocacy for inclusive practice, and commitment to uplifting the next generation while transforming the built environment.
A presentation on her career journey is more than a personal story—it’s a catalyst for change. It highlights personal experiences and provides practical solutions to remove barriers in design. It inspires both individuals and organizations to build a more inclusive and dynamic future for architecture. Tiffany will share real-world examples of successful programs and initiatives (like 400 Forward) and offer a blueprint for other firms and organizations to do the same. She will discuss how adopting these strategies can help remove barriers to entry and advancement, ensuring more equitable opportunities and a stronger, more diverse profession.
The Lawrence Technological University DAA Award is given annually in recognition of the recipient’s professional, academic, and personal achievements including:

Local, national, and international professional accomplishments
Support of the College of Architecture and Design
Charitable, volunteer, and community service

In addition to our professional DAA Award, the CoAD DAA Scholarship winner is James Hoppe.
This public Lecture and Award Presentation Reception / Exhibit will be held at Lawrence Technological University’s College of Architecture and Design Campus. Tiffany’s talk will also be livestreamed.
CoAD Freshman, this event counts towards your Experience Passport.
CEU: This lecture equals 1 professional architecture credit towards licensure requirements. ​​
Please note that LTU is not a registered AIA CE provider. By virtue of having a NAAB-accredited architecture program, the State of Michigan authorizes LTU to offer continuing education credit. A list of state-approved HSW subjects can be found on their licensing website by searching the page for ‘HSW subjects for continuing education’.
As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Lecture Series, this lecture is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details.

ABOUT: Tiffany Brown, MBA, NOMA, Assoc. AIA, brings nearly 20 years of experience in architecture and leadership to her role as Executive Director of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), where she drives the organization’s strategic vision and operations. With two degrees in architecture and an MBA from Lawrence Technological University, Tiffany combines design expertise with business acumen—skills that have helped her secure funding, negotiate partnerships, and advocate for equity in the profession. Her extensive experience in the industry bridges design and implementation, managing complex projects with a focus on community impact.
She is the founder of 400 Forward, an initiative empowering the next generation of women architects, and has been recognized by Architizer’s 100 Women to Watch and the American Institute of Architects for her leadership expertise and visionary approach, Tiffany aims to inspire and empower the next generation of leaders, architects, and designers, ensuring the industry reflects the voices and needs of all communities. In recognition of her influence, Tiffany has received numerous awards and honors, including the President’s Medal for Distinguished Service from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. These accolades reflect her standing as a respected leader and a source of inspiration for her peers.
Tiffany has gained valuable professional experience with Hamilton Anderson Associates and SmithGroup, two nationally recognized design firms that shaped her perspective and position in architecture. A passionate leader in the profession, Tiffany has spearheaded raising awareness on how representation makes a significant social impact on firm practice, culture, education, and design thinking. She is a sought-after expert frequently speaking at national events including South by Southwest, and is featured in ESSENCE Magazine, AIA+Architect Magazine and Architectural Record.

Design x Technology Series: Roy Decker and Anne Marie Duvall Decker
2025-11-04 12:30 - 13:30 | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
They will explore how the constructed environment can be critical, healthy, educational, and therapeutic for its inhabitants.

Join LTU CoAD for our next exciting Design x Technology Series talk featuring Roy Decker and Anne Marie Duvall Decker, Co-Founders of Duvall Decker. Their talk titled, Foundations will explore how the constructed environment can be critical, healthy, educational, and perhaps, therapeutic for a place and its inhabitants.
This conversational discussion with Assistant Professor Masataka Yoshikawa will provide our guests with a thoughtfully guided interview.
TITLE: Foundations
ABSTRACT: Design encompasses life in all its complexities and contingencies. Planning and design are the only activities that can improve the social and environmental health of our communities. Any professional can engage planning and design thinking in their work, but designers are trained for this challenge. Design methodologies include imagining a future and defining the systematic steps to achieve that future. Architectural projects are local and sited in a specific place and community. To have meaningful impact, architecture must be grounded in the place of practice, in its soil, weather, economy, history, and social context. To be productive, a studio must be aware of the cultural history and limitations of architecture and search for critiques and improvements that can help make a socially and environmentally healthy condition.
The work of Duvall Decker Architects is hopeful speculation through an expanded practice that includes architectural design, community planning, real estate development, and building care. In over twenty-seven years of doing this work, they have recorded what are called our foundations. They are our assumptions, principles, propositions, lessons, inspirations, and aspirations for both the how and the why of a practice. This lecture explores the work through the lenses of several of Duvall Decker’s foundations.
BENEFITS: Each new or renovated building and each new landscape changes its community. These interventions have consequences in the lives of all the people who encounter them over the years they exist. Architects face the challenges of program, budget, and schedule in every project, but the most important challenge is to find the public value for each project. Architecture can contribute to cultural growth, public safety, and environmental and social health. Architecture form is not simply a thing, but a transaction between us and our environment over time.
We believe the opportunity to design the built environment is a privilege that comes with public responsibility. For Duvall Decker, architecture is both a radical act of service and a hopeful artistic speculation. Architectural projects are local and come to be within a specific place and a unique community. As architects, we sometimes do not realize the public consequences that every building or landscape intervention carries. To expand our focus from the project-specific requirements, we ask questions that reframe our perspective. This presentation will explore how the constructed environment can be critical, healthy, educational, and perhaps, therapeutic for a place and its inhabitants.

🛂 CoAD Freshman, this event counts towards your Experience Passport.
CEU: This lecture equals 1 professional architecture credit towards licensure requirements. ​​
Please note that LTU is not a registered AIA CE provider. By virtue of having a NAAB-accredited architecture program, the State of Michigan authorizes LTU to offer continuing education credit. A list of state-approved HSW subjects can be found on their licensing website by searching the page for ‘ HSW subjects for continuing education’.
As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Lecture Series, this lecture is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details.
*Image: Duvall Decker. US Courthouse Greenville MS. Timothy Hursley – Katherine Flannigan.

Design x Technology Series: Eric Zimmerman
2025-11-06 12:30 - 13:30 | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
Playing With Systems

Join CoAD for our next innovative Design x Technology Series featuring game designer & Arts Professor, NYU Game Center Eric Zimmerman. His talk titled, Playing with Systems will explore important fundamental design questions relevant to most design fields. This hands-on interactive activity will be moderated by LTU Director of Game Design and Assistant Professor Ahu Yolaç.
Games have a special relationship to systems thinking. Every game is an opportunity to push and pull at the affordances of a system, exploring how the system works and how it can be played. While every form of culture (every image, every story, every song) is a system, games – as dynamic participatory experiences – are particularly systemic. And they have been engaging our species for thousands of years.
This session builds connections between game design and other forms of systems design through an interactive workshop where we will play with each other. Specifically, we will explore the simple game of Rock-Paper-Scissors to understand how it works as a system of signification and play. Through a series of modifications, we will look at how small design changes in the rules of a game can ramify into large changes on the level of player experience.
Specifically we will look at what it means to be playful – the ways that play are about transgressing, bending, and breaking structures, in creative ways. Please come to the session ready to play and participate. The focus of the session is designing meaningful experiences for audiences. How does a choice become interesting for a participant? What makes something engaging – on emotional, social, or cognitive levels? How do we balance structured and organized systems with wild and chaotic experiences?
Through the modification and play of a simple game, we will be exploring these important fundamental design questions, which are relevant to just about any field of art or design. The format of the session itself – a way of teaching design through games and play – itself serves as a model for how to integrate ideas and pedagogy into interactive experiences. And it will be fun too! See you there.

🛂 CoAD Freshman, this event counts towards your Experience Passport.
As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Series, this event is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details. A pizza lunch will be provided to all on-site registered guests.
This event has limited space. Register early!

Eric is a veteran game designer who makes award-winning games on and off the computer. Along with Peter Lee, he was the co-founder of Gamelab, a New York City-based studio that created original games like Diner Dash and worked with companies like Lego to create dozens of online titles. Other digital games include SiSSYFiGHT (with word.com), an online game about little girls in social conflict on a playground, Leela (with Curious Pictures), an X-Box Kinect launch title about play and meditation, and Dear Reader (with Local No.12), an Apple Arcade launch title that uses public domain literature as the basis for word puzzles. He was a co-founder of the nonprofit The Institute of Play, which designed entire schools where the curriculum was based on play and games as the model for learning. Tabletop titles include Quantum (with FunForge) and The Metagame (with Local No.12). With architect Nathalie Pozzi, he has designed installations that have been shown in the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and other festivals and museums around the world. He is the co-founder of the top-ranked NYU Game Center, where he teaches as an Arts Professor. Eric’s books include Rules of Play (co-authored with Katie Salen) a textbook that helped establish game design as a discipline, and The Rules We Break, a compendium of his game design exercises. He teaches and lectures extensively about game design and is always ready to play.

Design x Technology Series: Scott Shall
2026-01-22 12:30 - 13:30 | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
Our first Spring 2026 Design x Technology Series features Scott Shall, LTU professor.

Come to CoAD for our first Spring 2026 Design x Technology Series talk featuring Professor, LTU, Co-Founder and CEO, houm, Founding Director, International Design Clinic, Scott Shall.
Scott’s presentation on Thursday, January 22, titled ‘Pressure Points,’ will explore his houm work as well as his affiliation with a community-led strategy created by the International Design Clinic (IDC), in partnership with Shalom Ministries, Fielding International and a variety of local activists.
This informative presentation and discussion will be led by Architecture Department Chair and Associate Professor Gretchen Wilkins and will provide our guests with a thoughtfully guided interview.
In the spring and summer of 2025, the International Design Clinic (IDC), in partnership with Shalom Ministries, Fielding International and a variety of local activists, created a community-led strategy and phased approach to design and construct a new community space for the Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood of Detroit. The final proposal utilized donated, undervalued, or reclaimed resources to transform the previously unfinished, 2000-sf space into a community hub that will offer free therapy services, nutritional justice programming, and other community-centered supports. The work utilized a mix of low- and high-tech approaches, including 3d scanning, digital simulation and AI in order to give community partners greater voice in the project.
The Cochrane Home reimagines how high-quality, cost-conscious housing can take root on vacant urban land. Built on a narrow site in Detroit, it unites generative design, digital fabrication, and a thoughtful blend of on- and off-site construction to reduce waste, accelerate delivery, and enhance performance. A compact massing strategy and digitally-fabricated service core create open, flexible living spaces filled with daylight and natural ventilation. Cedar cladding, reclaimed tile, and bamboo flooring headline a warm, durable, and sustainable material palette. The project offers a replicable model for owner-occupied infill housing that strengthens community, advances environmental stewardship, and balances comfort with cost.
🛂 CoAD Freshman, this event counts towards your Experience Passport.
CEU: This event equals 1 professional architecture credit towards licensure requirements. ​​
Please note that LTU is not a registered AIA CE provider. By virtue of having a NAAB-accredited architecture program, the State of Michigan authorizes LTU to offer continuing education credit. A list of state-approved HSW subjects can be found on their licensing website by searching the page for ‘HSW subjects for continuing education’.
As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Series, this event is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details. A pizza lunch will be provided to all on-site registered guests.

BIO:
Scott Gerald Shall, RA, is a Professor Architecture in the College of Architecture and Design at Lawrence Technological University (LTU) and the founding principal of the award-winning architectural practice houm (ourhoum.com). Prior to joining LTU, Shall was an Assistant Professor of Architecture in the Tyler School of Art at Temple University and the School of Art and Design at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Shall is also the founding director of the International Design Clinic (IDC, www.internationaldesignclinic.org), a registered non-profit that realizes crowd-sourced architecture and virally-propagated creative action with communities in need around the world. Since founding the IDC in 2006, Shall has worked through this organization to complete over two dozen projects on five continents, including an urban tent for the homeless made of reclaimed water bottles, a vision for education based upon borrowed resources for the migrant communities of India, educational devices based upon the vending architectures of Bolivia for kids working the streets of La Paz, and a two-dollar water filtration system.
Shall’s research and creative work in this arena has been disseminated widely, including presentation at the World Congress of Architects (2023), the Third, Fifth, Seventh and Eighth International Symposia On Service Learning In Higher Education (2013, 2017, 2022, 2024), the 2nd Valencia Biennial of Research in Architecture (2020), and Structures for Inclusion (2007) as well as invited lectures hosted by the AIA (2017), Polis University (2016), the University of Maryland (2009), the New School for Design at Parsons (2008), and the Pratt Institute (2008). Shall’s writing on socially-responsive design has been featured in a range of publications, including works by Springer (2023), Palgrave-MacMillan (2018), the University of Indianapolis Press (2015) and the AIA Press (2010). In 2008 Interior Design magazine published the work of the IDC along with projects by Kengo Kuma & Associates, OMA, and Buckminister Fuller in an article highlighting practitioners who are challenging the edge of design practice. Shall has exhibited his creative work in venues around the world, including solo shows at the Zeitz Museum for Contemporary African Art (2022), the San Francisco Museum of Art in La Paz, Bolivia (2015), and the AIA Center for Architecture in Philadelphia (2009) as well as inclusion within group shows at the Sheldon Swope Museum of Art (2010), the Goldstein Museum of Design (2010), the Venice Architecture Biennale (2013) and MoMA (2015).

Design x Technology Series: Jakob Marsico
2026-02-24 12:30 - 13:30 | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
Tangible Experience vs. the Slop Feed: Designing for Shared Presence in a Hyper-Digital World

Come to CoAD for our second Spring 2026 Design x Technology Series talk featuring Jakob Marsico, Chief Creative Officer at Deeplocal. This talk will also be livestreamed.
Jakob’s presentation on Tuesday, February 24 titled ‘Tangible Experience vs. the Slop Feed,’ will get you thinking about physical interactivity while offering a familiarization with the creative tech experience design industry and an understanding of how physical interaction fits in the built environment.
In our world of infinite scrolling, the act of pulling a perfectly-tuned physical lever feels almost dreamlike. Our feeds have become incredibly good at keeping us locked in, and generative AI has made them even harder to break away. Our feeds are personal, predictive, and effortless. And because of that, it’s increasingly forgettable.
As experience designers, we can choose between:

Flicking your thumb and engaging your arms.
Darting your eyes and craning your neck.
Earbuds that isolate and vibrations that shake your bones.

This talk is about designing experiences you can touch, push, lean on, and feel in your body; not just in your thumbs. Levers, buttons, dials, light, sound, vibration. Experiences that take effort, introduce friction, and happen around other people in the same space.
I’ll walk through Deeplocal projects that prioritize touch, force, light, sound, and motion—and how we’re thinking about using AI not to isolate people further, but to reconnect them to each other and to the spaces they’re in.
This informative presentation will be moderated by Associate Professor of Architecture Lee-Su Huang.

As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Series, this event is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details. A pizza lunch will be provided to all on-site registered guests.

BIO: Jakob Marsico is Chief Creative Officer at Deeplocal, a creative innovation studio that invents, designs, and builds experiences for the world’s most progressive brands. Jakob leads a multidisciplinary team of creative technologists, designers, and engineers to invent and deliver playful, interactive experiences that foster meaningful connections between people and technology.
Jakob has a Master of Tangible Interaction Design from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor of Science in Religion from The George Washington University. He also founded and ran Ultra Low Res Studio, an arts-engineering studio that collaborated with developers and architects on experiential projects. Jakob’s work has been featured in various publications and exhibitions, and his projects have received multiple awards and honors for their creativity and innovation.

Design x Technology Series: Ulysses Sean Vance
2026-03-03 12:30 - 13:30 | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
Beyond Health Capacity

Come to CoAD for another innovative Spring 2026 Design x Technology Series talk featuring Associate Professor at Temple University, Tyler School of Art and Architecture Ulysses Sean Vance.
His presentation titled, ‘Beyond Health Capacity,’ will shed light on the systemic challenges communities with limited access to medical support and health maintenance have endured.
By integrating architectural analysis with public health, environmental psychology, and medical practices, Vance’s research and creative work aim to highlight architecture’s vital role in discussions about health equity. Investigations into spatial configurations in healthcare settings examine their impact on medical anxiety, patient recovery, and staff efficiency. Employing computational analysis alongside evidence-based design, Vance evaluates how architectural elements, such as circulation patterns and sensory experiences, influence patient comfort, stress reduction, and clinical efficiency.
The lecture extends to the audience a discussion of publics in architecture, the role of health capacity in urban infrastructure, and housing. Vance will be examining the relationship between environmental stressors and health outcomes, particularly health resilience. The ultimate goal is to share a framework that accommodates a wide range of users, ensuring spaces are not only accessible but also responsive to the diverse human experience. Vance will argue that, by collaborating with public health researchers, medical professionals, and engineers, design research in architecture bridges the gap between architectural practice and healthcare policy.
Health capacity is an emerging consideration for optimizing building design to meet health criteria across physical, virtual, historical, and social spaces. Ulysses will emphasize that approaching medical interventions through non-traditional health facilities can positively affect health’s social and environmental impacts.
This informative presentation will be moderated by interim Provost Karl Daubmann.

CEU: This event equals 1 professional architecture credit towards licensure requirements. ​​
Please note that LTU is not a registered AIA CE provider. By virtue of having a NAAB-accredited architecture program, the State of Michigan authorizes LTU to offer continuing education credit. A list of state-approved HSW subjects can be found on their licensing website by searching the page for ‘HSW subjects for continuing education’.
As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Series, this event is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details. A pizza lunch will be provided to all on-site registered guests.

Bio: Ulysses Sean Vance is a scholar specializing in universal design and healthcare architecture, focusing on adaptive environments that accommodate diverse cognitive and physical abilities. His research goes beyond regulatory compliance, exploring how spatial organization, material selection, and environmental factors enhance inclusivity. The objective is not just to ensure accessibility but also to transform the built environment to better anticipate and respond to occupants’ evolving needs.
Vance’s work is centered on designing interventions that foster health and well-being in underserved communities, rooted in inclusive decision-making during the planning and programming of institutional spaces. The research particularly targets the unique health service needs of adolescents and older adults, encompassing medical, hygienic, physical, and nutritional interventions. Current projects tackle health disparities in urban areas by assessing material hardships and protective factors that affect physical, social, neurological, and behavioral challenges. Key partnerships include the NCSU College of Design Center for Universal Design and various University of Michigan centers focused on healthcare innovation and childhood disparities. The latest research with Temple University Urban Workshop emphasizes patient safety in institutional settings. It explores how campus health can better engage physically and neurologically diverse adolescents while supporting Variety the Children’s Charity of Delaware Valley in creating accessible community cabins.

Design x Technology Series: Juan Miró
2026-03-19 11:30 - 13:30 | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
The Landscape City talk & exhibition

This March Design x Technology Series event consists of a talk centered around an exhibition presented by ACSA and University of Texas Distinguished Professor, Dick Clark Chair in Architecture Juan Miró.
Cities are complex human creations that embody the values and aspirations of the societies that build them. As they adapt and evolve over time, cities develop specific models for growth in response to their historical circumstances and the physical characteristics of their locations. Although today many cities across the globe face similar challenges, the solutions to address those problems must respond to the particulars of each city: from their very specific nuances to the general understanding of the urban trajectory that has shaped them—their urban DNA.
This talk and exhibition presents the work of the architectural practice Miró Rivera Architects within the given context in Austin. Their architecture is developed in dialogue with nature. In their designs, buildings and nature complement each other and form a symbiosis that positively enhances both the exterior and interior spaces as well as the human beings within. In three thematic areas—trees, water, people—they present projects that demonstrate how the interactions between city, nature, and architecture influence spaces for living and working. For Miró Rivera, this is the primary goal: to create both private places and public spaces for people to spend time and come together.
Moderating this Design x Technology Series talk is Associate Professor of Architecture Ralph Nelson
CEU: This event equals 1 professional architecture credit towards licensure requirements. ​​
Please note that LTU is not a registered AIA CE provider. By virtue of having a NAAB-accredited architecture program, the State of Michigan authorizes LTU to offer continuing education credit. A list of state-approved HSW subjects can be found on their licensing website by searching the page for ‘HSW subjects for continuing education’.
As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Series, this event is free and open to the public. Guests may watch the talk online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details.

BIO:
Few architects embody the intersection of design, advocacy, and education as seamlessly as Juan Miró, FAIA LEED AP. His work is a testament to the belief that architecture is not merely about creating beautiful structures, but about shaping environments that enhance the human experience. Across his professional work, academic teachings, and personal activism, Juan has demonstrated how architecture can engage with nature, pushed the boundaries of urbanism, and advocated for a more humane built environment.
Juan was born in Barcelona and obtained his professional degree at the Escuela de Arquitectura of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. He worked in Spain with his father Antonio Miró as well as with Fernando Higueras, Felix Candela, and Santiago Calatrava on a wide range of projects. In 1989, Juan earned a Fulbright Scholarship to complete a post-professional Master’s degree at Yale University, where he was awarded the William Edward Parsons Memorial Medal. After graduating, Juan worked at Gwathmey Siegel and Associates Architects in New York City.
In 2000, Juan co-founded Miró Rivera Architects alongside his wife Rosa Rivera and brother-in-law Miguel Rivera. The prestigious design firm has won over 100 design awards, including the AR Award for Emerging Architecture, Texas Architecture Firm Award, the Architectural Digest AD100, and ArchDaily’s list of the World’s Best Architects.
What sets Juan apart is his ability to see Austin not as a place to be molded in the image of our European counterparts, but as a uniquely American “landscape city,” as he calls it, that thrives in its relationship with nature. This perspective is embedded in the work of Miró Rivera Architects, which has shaped some of the most remarkable architectural designs in Austin and beyond. The firm’s projects create dialogue between land, light, and the people who inhabit them.
Juan has lectured and published extensively on the work of Miró Rivera Architects, the role of the architectural profession in civic life, the relationship between the manmade and Nature, Mexican architecture, and the relevance of history for designers. He is an active member of the American Institute of Architects and has served as a juror for several AIA design award competitions at the national, state, and local levels. In 2011, Juan was elevated to the organization’s College of Fellows in recognition of his contributions to the profession and to society.
Beyond his professional practice, Juan is the Dick Clark Chair in Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin, where he founded Studio Mexico and teaches design and Mexican architectural history. His influence on young architects extends far beyond the classroom; he instills in them a sense of responsibility, curiosity, and advocacy. He urges his students to engage with their surroundings, to question norms, and to recognize their power to shape not just buildings, but communities. Juan’s grassroots action against windowless student dormitories in Austin resulted in a citywide ban on the construction of bedrooms without operable windows.
Juan was named a Distinguished Professor by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and is a member of UT’s Academy of Distinguished Teachers. Juan has received both the Texas Society of Architects’ Award for Outstanding Educational Contributions and the University of Texas Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award.
Juan’s legacy is not just in the structures he has designed, but in the ideas he has championed. He has helped redefine Texas architecture, not through imitation of others, but by embracing its own identity. He has empowered students to use their voices and reminded architects that their responsibility extends far beyond aesthetics. His work serves as a reminder that architecture, at its core, is about humanity.

Design x Technology Series: Juan Miró
2026-03-19 11:30 - 13:30 | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
The Landscape City talk & exhibition

This March Design x Technology Series event consists of a talk centered around an exhibition presented by ACSA and University of Texas Distinguished Professor, Dick Clark Chair in Architecture Juan Miró.
Cities are complex human creations that embody the values and aspirations of the societies that build them. As they adapt and evolve over time, cities develop specific models for growth in response to their historical circumstances and the physical characteristics of their locations. Although today many cities across the globe face similar challenges, the solutions to address those problems must respond to the particulars of each city: from their very specific nuances to the general understanding of the urban trajectory that has shaped them—their urban DNA.
This talk and exhibition presents the work of the architectural practice Miró Rivera Architects within the given context in Austin. Their architecture is developed in dialogue with nature. In their designs, buildings and nature complement each other and form a symbiosis that positively enhances both the exterior and interior spaces as well as the human beings within. In three thematic areas—trees, water, people—they present projects that demonstrate how the interactions between city, nature, and architecture influence spaces for living and working. For Miró Rivera, this is the primary goal: to create both private places and public spaces for people to spend time and come together.
Moderating this Design x Technology Series talk is Associate Professor of architecture Ralph Nelson
CEU: This event equals 1 professional architecture credit towards licensure requirements. ​​
Please note that LTU is not a registered AIA CE provider. By virtue of having a NAAB-accredited architecture program, the State of Michigan authorizes LTU to offer continuing education credit. A list of state-approved HSW subjects can be found on their licensing website by searching the page for ‘HSW subjects for continuing education’.
As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Series, this event is free and open to the public. Guests may watch the talk online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details.

Juan Miró, Principal of Miro Rivera Architects, Professor of Architecture at UT Austin. Dick Clark, III, Endowed Chair in Architecture and University Distinguished Teaching Professor.
Professor Juan Miró, FAIA LEED AP was born in Barcelona and obtained his professional degree at the Escuela de Arquitectura of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. In 1989, he earned a Fulbright Scholarship to complete a post-professional Master’s degree at Yale University, where he was awarded the William Edward Parsons Memorial Medal. He has been a faculty member at the UT School of Architecture since 1997.
Since 1999, Professor Miró has directed Studio Mexico, a program at the UTSOA that affords students the opportunity to travel to Mexico to study Mexican architecture and design. Professor Miró has lectured and written on Mexican Architecture with a special focus on the ancient city of Teotihuacan. In his teaching, practice, and research Professor Miró explores the connections between architectural design, placemaking, nature, and the relevance of history. Professor Miró was named a Distinguished Professor by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and is a member of UT’s Academy of Distinguished Teachers. He has received both the Texas Society of Architects’ Award for Outstanding Educational Contributions and the University of Texas Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award.

Design x Technology Series: Alexandra Dymowska
2026-03-24 12:30 - 13:30 | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
LTU CoAD presents another innovative Spring 2026 Design x Technology Series talk.

The College of Architecture and Design at Lawrence Technological University presents another innovative Spring 2026 Design x Technology Series talk featuring Senior Brand Strategy & Creative Designer, Global Cadillac Design at General Motors Alexandra Dymowska.
Her presentation titled, ‘The Art of Travel: How Design and Storytelling Drive Brand Desire,’ will explore how visionary storytelling shapes brand expression through design and fuels brand desire.
Drawing on nearly two decades of experience in the automotive design industry, Alexandra Dymowska reveals how design disciplines, marketing, communications, and partners collaborate to articulate brand values, craft cohesive visual narratives, and heighten aspirations – brought to life through case studies from Cadillac.
Audiences will gain insight into how clear storytelling aligns interdisciplinary teams, elevates luxury experiences across touch points, and builds brands that are both culturally aspirational and emotionally resonant.
Participants will benefit by:
• Gaining a behind-the-scenes glimpse to real-world industry projects, seeing how a design concept evolves from a sketch to a global brand reality.
• Informing their career goals by witnessing how mobility, digital, and physical design intersect in a high-performance professional environment.
• Fueling their creative ambition with tangible examples of how their specific discipline—whether product, interior, or game design—shapes the future of a world-class brand.
🛂 CoAD Freshman, this event counts towards your Experience Passport.
As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Series, this event is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details. A pizza lunch will be provided for site registered guests – please register so we can order the right amount of food.

BIO: Alexandra Dymowska is a Senior Brand Strategy & Creative Designer for Global Cadillac Design, where she plays a central role in defining and expressing Cadillac’s modern luxury narrative across vehicles, experiences, and visual communications. Over her nearly two-decade tenure with General Motors and Cadillac Design, she has helped envision the brand’s return to its historic position as the Standard of the World, shaping the Art of Travel design philosophy, revitalizing Cadillac’s visual identity, and cultivating a heightened sense of artfulness across the brand’s products and experiences.
A key creative and strategic voice behind halo initiatives such as CELESTIQ and Cadillac House at Vanderbilt, Alexandra also contributes to advanced concept programs including Opulent Velocity, Elevated Velocity, and SOLLEI, translating visionary design, technology, and performance into emotionally resonant luxury narratives. She bridges Design, Marketing, and Communications teams to ensure alignment around a unified brand story and an elevated aesthetic experience.
Classically trained in art and art history in both Europe and the United States, Alexandra began her career as an exhibiting artist before earning a Master of Industrial Design from Pratt Institute in New York City as a Jack Kent Cooke Award recipient. Her narrative-led design practice is grounded in a rigorous synthesis of fine art, industrial design, and strategic brand thinking.

Design x Technology Series: Lesley-Ann Noel
2026-04-07 12:30 - 13:30 | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
You are invited to LTU CoAD for another innovative and important Spring 2026 Design x Technology Series talk featuring Dean of Design, OCAD

Design x Technology Series: Karilyn Johanesen
2026-04-16 12:30 - 13:30 | Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI, 48075, United States
Come to CoAD for our another innovative Spring 2026 Design x Technology Series.

Come to CoAD for our another innovative Spring 2026 Design x Technology Series talk featuring Karilyn Johanesen, Senior Associate at Solid Objectives Idenburg Liu. Enjoy this talk in person or virtually.
Karilyn’s presentation on Tuesday, April 16 titled ‘Solid Objectives Idenburg Liu,’ will allow our guests to gain insight into the practice’s design process including early concept design thinking, material research, and construction.
Solid Objectives Idenburg Liu is an architecture studio based in New York and Amsterdam, founded in 2008 by Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu. The practice has developed an internationally recognized body of work spanning cultural, civic, residential, commercial, and educational projects, from temporary installations to long-term urban strategies, across both new construction and adaptive reuse. At the core of SO–IL’s work is an ambition to strengthen the civic realm. Each project is approached as an opportunity to rethink convention and to design spaces that foster openness, collective engagement, and environmental responsibility. A commitment to craft, material precision, and intellectual rigor ensures that each building is deeply responsive to its context while contributing to broader architectural discourse.
Central to this lecture is the studio’s investigation of “edges”. SO–IL treats conventional divisions between interior and exterior, public and private, existing and new not as fixed lines, but as zones of tension and ambiguity. Through strategies of thickening, layering, elongating, and articulating, edges become active zones of negotiation and exchange. The result is buildings that rely less on iconic form than on the precise calibration of material assemblies and the climatic and social forces they mediate.
Presented by Karilyn Johanesen, Senior Associate, this lecture focuses on “edges” as a recurring theme in SO-IL’s work. The studio approaches the conventional divisions between interior and exterior, public and private, and existing and new as potential zones of tension, complexity, and ambiguity. Through strategies of thickening, layering, elongating, and articulating, edges become active zones of negotiation and exchange. The result is buildings that rely less on iconic form than on the precise calibration of material assemblies and the climatic and social forces they mediate.
This informative presentation will be moderated by Department Chair of Architecture and Associate Professor Gretchen Wilkins.
🛂 CoAD Freshman, this event counts towards your Experience Passport.
CEU: This event equals 1 professional architecture credit towards licensure requirements. ​​
Please note that LTU is not a registered AIA CE provider. By virtue of having a NAAB-accredited architecture program, the State of Michigan authorizes LTU to offer continuing education credit. A list of state-approved HSW subjects can be found on their licensing website by searching the page for ‘HSW subjects for continuing education’.
As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Series, this event is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details. A pizza lunch will be provided to all on-site registered guests.
