keynotes

The Rise of Agentic and Transcalar Architectures

Jeffrey Huang

Professor and Director, Media x Design Lab, EPFL Switzerland

Summary

“With artificial intelligence, architectural agency shifts, no longer confined to buildings but unfolding within broader fields of interaction and evolving environments.” The keynote examines how design now intersects with autonomous machine intelligence and questions of authorship and responsibility through projects spanning planetary networks and hybrid environments.

Biography

Jeffrey Huang directs the Media x Design Laboratory and serves as Full Professor of Architecture and Computer Science at EPFL, with joint appointments in Computer Sciences and Architecture/Engineering. He holds degrees from ETH Zurich, Harvard (Master’s and Doctorate), and received the Gerald McCue Medal. He previously taught at MIT and Harvard GSD, founded SUTD’s Architecture pillar (2014–2017), and leads the Innosuisse Blue City project exploring AI and urban flows. His work has been exhibited at Venice Architecture Biennale and recognized with ACSA awards.

From CAADRIA through Peter Eisenman to Frank Gehry: Ongoing Projects of NCTU (NYCU)

Yu-Tung Liu

Chief Advisor of Architecture and Art, China Medical University and Hospitals

Summary

Outlines early CAADRIA involvement and three research areas: CAD/CAM fabrication, virtual space, and human–computer design thinking. Describes executed building projects and exhibitions, plus collaborations with Eisenman, Hadid, and Gehry on museum designs.

Biography

Yu-Tung Liu earned Doctor of Design from Harvard in association with MIT. He founded the Graduate Institute of Architecture at NCTU and served as Asia University Vice President and CAADRIA President (2002–2004). His visiting positions span Harvard, Yale, Berkeley, and international institutions. He has published eight English books with Birkhäuser and received the first Ivan Petrovic Prize from eCAADe. His works appear in Venice Biennale and international exhibitions; “Architecture of Tomorrow” was ranked among Taiwan’s “Top-Ten Public Exhibitions” (2007).

Biological intelligence (BI): the origin of architectural creativity

Ying-Chao Kuo

Principal Architect, Bio-architecture Formosana (BaF)

Summary

Explores parallels between architecture and life forms regarding structure and interconnection. Proposes that “Biological intelligence” underpins nature’s creativity and that architecture should evolve through similar mechanisms — internal energies and external pressures — to create sustainable, naturally-inspired designs.

Biography

Ying-Chao Kuo leads Bio-architecture Formosana, a Taipei firm recognized for cultural, educational, transportation, hospitality, and housing projects. His Bei-Tou Library (2006) — Taiwan’s first certified green building — was selected by Flavorwire among “world’s 25 most beautiful libraries.” He won Taiwan’s Outstanding Architect Award (2011) and teaches as associate professor at multiple universities, focusing on sustainability and biological-intelligence design approaches.

Humanly Possible Worlds

Andrew Witt

Kavita and Krishna Bharat Professor of Design and AI, Washington University in St Louis

Summary

Examines humanity’s evolving position between natural and technological worlds. Through projects exploring planetary imagination, radical reuse, generative reassembly, and synthetic natures, discusses how computational design shapes techno-natural interfaces and our uniquely human place.

Biography

Andrew Witt trained in architecture and mathematics, holding the inaugural Bharat Professorship at Washington University. Co-founder of Certain Measures studio (with Tobias Nolte), his work appears in Centre Pompidou’s permanent collection and exhibitions at Barbican, Venice Biennale, and Museum of the Future. He previously co-directed Harvard GSD’s Masters in Design Engineering and authored “Formulations: Architecture, Mathematics, Culture” (MIT Press) and forthcoming “The Technological Home.”