HYBRID LAB
- DISTRIBUTED, IMMERSIVE, COLLABORATIVE, REAL-TIME DESIGN -
A RESEARCH PROJECT LED BY DESIGN ACADEMY EINDHOVEN
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH MUTHESIUS, THE NEW RAW AND UAU PROJECT.
SUPPORTED IN PART BY THE EUROPEAN UNION’S CREATIVE EUROPE PROGRAMME.
(WORK IN PROGRESS)
︎︎︎
OUR MISSION
︎Research
︎Collaboration
How can designers leverage the affordances of technological networks and immersive environments to improve geographically dispersed collaboration and communication?
The Hybrid Lab research project will deploy a networked XR (eXtended Reality) environment in which a series of design build challenges will be executed. The environment will be used not only as a digital twin (for virtual scouting and in-situ testing of models) but also as a real-time platform for distanced collaboration between the researchers, designers and clients.
The project is led by Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE) who also provide the networked XR environment platform and knowledge around the use of such technologies. Muthesius University (Kiel) will advise and conduct research concerning social interaction and identity in collaborative immersive environments. UAU Project (Warsaw) and The New Raw (Rotterdam) are design studios who work extensively with parametric design methodologies and 3D printing: each studio will develop and test new “urban furniture” within the Hybrid Lab networked environment before manufacturing and situating the works in physical space.
This project has been made possible through European funding from the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
COLLABORATION
NETHERLANDS - GERMANY - POLAND
Design Academy Eindhoven
︎Professor Dr. Ian Biscoe
Dr Ian Biscoe is a visual and performance artist, director, producer, entrepreneur, designer and engineer with degrees in architecture and landscape architecture. His research practice brings together the arts and technology, with a transdisciplinary approach that draws on his background in science, systems integration, technology, architecture, performing and visual arts, design and business. His research around the fusion of art, science and technology, includes the study of cognitively enabled built environments, and X Reality networked performance – the subject of his PhD thesis. His design and entrepreneurial background brings experience from fields as diverse as aerospace and avionics, process control systems, mobile content delivery, and electronics in educational toys. Dr Biscoe’s recent projects are infused with theories of space and time, exploring themes of identity, freedom, truth, responsibility and connectivity. His work is typically produced in collaboration and realised in multidisciplinary formats. His projects employ a variety of movement, music, sound, painting, live video, photography, film and scenography; blending analogue and digital techniques. A summary of his recent projects, research and educational activities can be found on his personal website.
︎Esther de BruijnAt DAE Esther fulfills the post of XR Officer: a title that is still rather unknown - she does practical research in all kinds of interactive fields, a.o. in VR, AR, and comparable settings – all this to support the Research department practically and conceptually. Esther has an enormous interest for new technologies, especially in the art world, and continuously updates herself or taking on new projects that are on the limits of her skillset - just so she can expand them. She believes that technologies should be a natural augmentation of our bodies and minds. After graduating at the KABK in the Hague she has been expanding her knowledge by starting up Studio Vodka, where she creates 3D art, VR experiences, and light installations.
︎Léa Cadieux Léa is a freelance researcher and a designer based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Her work has been deeply influenced by the process of moving amid the COVID-19 pandemic from Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) to the Netherlands. Léa’s work explores digital technology as a medium for spaces of encounter. The work responds to the transformation of social dynamics through new digital technology, and explores communication and engagement between humans, non-humans and objects. Lea creates alternative spaces for connection, allowing for new understandings of closeness between loved ones. Her work resists the hegemony of big-tech digital communication, and advocates for the new low-tech strategies that prioritise affective connection. In 2018 she co-founds Take out studio with Jacob Éthier. Their non-exclusive duo designs spaces and wish to create new typologies of environments for the cultural sector. In 2022, she graduates from Design Academy Eindhoven with a masters in social design. She is now also part of Whywhynot Collective and works as a freelancer for DAE’s research program, where she partakes in the elaboration of cross-disciplinary networks for connection and teaches how to design hybrid environments and platforms to a new generation of designers.
