Narrative, Media, and AI in Architectural Academia; A Conversation with Natasha Sandmeier
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Natasha Sandmeier: I am an architect and educator based in Los Angeles, where I lead the postgraduate Entertainment Studio at UCLA AUD. At the Entertainment Studio, we work predominantly in the visualizationspace, thinking about ways to build stories centering on the built environment, how we live in the world, and how it might transform in the imminent near future of the next quarter century. Our speculations intentionally stay in the near present or near future, so that we don’t stray too far into the fanciful or unattainable. For example, 25 years ago from now was 1998, and although the world was quite different then, it wasn’t alien to where we are today.
Beyond the Entertainment Studio, I recently became the Executive Director of the A+D Museum here in Los Angeles, where we are working to advance the next generation of museum programming and community building. During the pandemic, the museum transitioned to a virtual programming format, so our most present mission is guiding our re-entry into the physical museum world, which we have been doing over the past few months. ...
Recently, I was studying the roles and responsibilities of architects in designing cities and suburbs, including Ellen Dunham-Jones’ observation that architects design only a small percentage of suburban development. Massive developments are largely developer-led with in-house designers and architecture teams. If we as a profession can offer more affordable services by outsourcing repetitive work, there is hope that we can capture some of the growth opportunities in areas currently dominated by developers. ...
To conclude, I wanted to switch focus from academia and ask about the A+D Museum, of which you have recently become the Executive Director. Do you expect computation and artificial intelligence to manifest in some way across the museum’s future program?
It undoubtedly will. The question of how technology is changing the face of architecture and media is a relevant question for the museum. For example, October sees us host a conversation with Paul Debevec, the Chief Research Officer of Eyeline Studios – Powered by Netflix, which dwells on themes of computer vision, computer graphics, machine learning, and their connection to visual, virtual, and animated media.
For us, the question of how forces such as technology can change and give opportunities to the profession is more productive than thinking about ways they can destroy the profession. In the media, it is all about the ‘death of labor.’ That is not to say jobs in society will be immune to disruption, but if architects have one skill, it is agility. Now is a moment to capitalize on that agility.
See the full article here: https://archinect.com/features/article/150387065/narrative-media-and-ai-in-architectural-academia-a-conversation-with-natasha-sandmeier
