Femmetech

Breaking the stereotypical and leading the field in innovative, unconventional and inspiring works of architectural greatness, women have proven time and time again that they deserve their seat at the table in our industry - so this month, we’re celebrating them!

9am 

Mariana Cabugueira Custodio dos Santos

Senior Architect and Urban Designer 

Zaha Hadid Architects

BIO: 

MARIANA CABUGUEIRA is an Architect and Urban designer from  Portugal, recently working as a Senior Architectural Designer at Zaha  Hadid Architects; teaching at the Architectural Association in London  and doing Live workshops and webinars with students from all around  the World. 

Graduated from the School of Architecture in Lisbon and the Politecnico di Milano, she moved to London to explore design and technology trough  the Postgraduate course: Design Research Laboratory (DRL) at the  Architectural Association School (AA). 

Her research interests gravitate around Parametric Design; Generative  Design; Digital Design and the evolution of Architecture through the use  of technological means, such as Robotic Fabrication. Her final project  proposes a cluster of towers, radically different but biologically similar, in  the centre of London. 

Mariana joined Zaha Hadid Architects after graduating from the AA School  in 2017. She is part of the Competition cluster ever since, responsible for  the High-End Design Projects of the Office. 

She was part of the Design Team of winning projects such us: Navi  Mumbai Airport; Western Sydney Airport; Exhibition Centre Beijing; and  most recently the Tower C in Shenzhen. 

TALK TOPIC: 

The Practice of Fluid digital Design in Architecture

We see music as fluid architecture, in exploring data sets ranging from motion, space, and light.

The dynamic and progressive music hall invites visitors to open their senses to the endless possibilities at the intersection of new media art and architecture.

This endeavor and collaboration represent our passion to critically pursue the intersection of machine intelligence, media, and architectural design. We are offering a new visualization of our digitized experiences, spatial-temporal, expanding the possibilities of fluid design, narrative, and the body in motion. Shifting paradigms to a dramatic rethinking of the physical world, our relationship to time and space, and the creative potential of digital means to enhance our cognitive capacities and the physical experience. Mariana will talk our audience through Maya and Houdini digital technology platforms and explain how to use them in your practice. 

10am 

Wendy W Fok

Creative Director/Technologist

WE-DESIGNS

BIO:

Wendy W Fok, trained as an architect, is the creative director and technologist of WE-DESIGNS.

Fok has experience in Product Development and Program Management from Zero to Launch, Design-Build, Manufacturing, Hardware/Software, and Digital Fabrication. Proficient in 3D modelling, innovative material research, design-build, augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (XR) design, and other types of engagement that could promote a larger discussion of how consumers interact with products and delivery for architecture, real estate, retail, and innovative business development.

Fellow at the Urban Design Forum (since 2018), she was featured as Autodesk Remake’s Women in Reality Computing (2017), winner of the Autodesk AiR (2016), Digital Kluge Fellowship, Library of Congress (2014/15), ADC Young Guns 11 Award (2013), AIA Dallas Women in Architecture (2013), Perspective 40 under 40 (2011), and Hong Kong Young Design Talent Award (2009). 

WE-DESIGNS has been selected by Twenty+Change Emerging Canadian Design Practices (2011). Fok was shortlisted for 1 of 13 DX Emerging Talent Awards (2013), and won Western Living Designer of the Year – Maker Category (2016) across Canada.

TALK TOPIC: Digital currencies (cryptocurrencies) and digital property

Digital currencies (cryptocurrencies) and digital property require large amounts of land, resources, and data centers and infrastructures to store these “supplies”. There is a larger architectural and urban infrastructural challenge and urgency on how these various kinds of digital exchanges are mediated, to limit the detrimental use of our everyday resources. If our everyday objects are digital and no longer physical, how does our future of urban living challenge ecological questions? Their participation is part of the CityX Venice, Sezione del Padiglione Italia Italian Virtual Pavilion, at the 17th La Biennale di Venezia.

• What are the ecological footprints of digital files, storage, and data infrastructure? 
• How much hard does storing and hoarding ‘digital property’ really cost? 
• Who is responsible for and really affected by these circumstances?

Learning outcomes and AACA Competencies:

3.2 Application of creative imagination, aesthetic judgement ans critical evaluation in formulating design options. 

4.1  Evaluation of design options in relation to project requirements 

5.1 Application of creative imagination and aesthetic judgement in producing a resolved project design