RMIT

RMIT also fulfils a support role, and have agreed to fund the cost of keynote presentations. Furthermore, RMIT has commissioned a Masters Elective in the Architecture and Design Summer School to produce 3 dimensional immersive environments.

RMIT Summer School Masters Elective: Architecture and Design

Designing Reversible Destiny for the 3rd International Arakawa and Gins Architecture and Philosophy Conference

Course Convenor: Russell Hughes with contributions from Dr. Jondi Keane, Dr. Pia Ednie-Brown, Dr. Helene Frichot, Mike Hornblow, Michael Spooner, and Greg More.

As part of the virtual experience of AG3 Online, Masters students from RMIT will take part in a special coursework unit to create immersive surrounds for the user participants. These include the re-creation of Arakawa and Gins built and unbuilt works, as well as design responses that reference their work in creative and unusual ways. Toward the end of the course we will explore the potential of Second Life as a design platform for real time virtual events.

Arakawa and Gins believe the body is indistinguishable from its surrounds, and have designed architecture to serve that end. Installations, Parks, Apartment Blocks and Houses all experiment with the notion that the arrangement of space can stimulate the emergent cognitive properties of the human body, enabling a radical revision of what it is, how it works, and what (else) it can do!

The course will feature the contributions of experts in Embodied Cognition, Spatial Awareness, Architecture and Digital Design. It will run for 6 weeks (6 hours per week) with two intensive weekend sessions (Jan 9/10) - (Feb 6/7). The best designs will be showcased at the conference (March 12-26 2010) and at the closing event exhibition to be held in the United States (May 2010). We are seeking students with exceptional creativity and design skills.

Course Convenor: russell.hughes@rmit.edu.au