Rapidly evolving technologies promise major disruption to the practice of architecture and city design.

Please join us for a DiD Community Conversation with Xavier De Kestelier (Head of Design & Innovation at Hassell UK) and Angelos Chronis (CEO of InFraRed City and Head of the City Intelligence Lab at the Austrian Institute of Technology) as they share experiences and insights about their work leading ground breaking technology aided design and Ai projects around the world (and in outer space!). Both will share some of the recent work and tools they have been developing.

This session will be online so all welcome! 600pm Wed 13 Sept (AEST) / 900am Wed 13 Sept (UK)

Angelos Chronis is the CEO and Cofounder of Infrared City GmbH, the Head of the City Intelligence Lab at the Austrian Institute of Technology in Vienna and Senior Faculty at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia.

Both an architect and technologist, his work focuses on performative design, simulation, AI and data-driven design and optimisation as well as interactive interfaces and AR/VR. He has developed various design and integrated simulation systems, such as InFraReD, a ground-breaking AI-driven climate simulation framework.

InFraReD is a ground breaking platform for intelligent and resilient urban design based on Artificial Intelligence. These state of the art machine learning models can provide real-time feedback on the performance of designs and guide decisions at every step of the process. It currently provides feedback on solar, sunlight and wind performance.

Xavier De Kestelier is the Head of Design & Innovation at Hassell (UK). Prior to working at Hassell, Xavier spent 16 years at Foster + Partners, working as a Partner for the Specialist Modelling Group.

Both an architect and technologist, Xavier harnesses technology to create more powerful, future-focused design solutions. He’s responsible for overseeing Hassell’s work in computational design, building information modelling, visualisation and virtual reality worldwide.

Over the past decade he’s forged a reputation as an industry leader in the exploration and adoption of parametric design and digital fabrication. A TED talker and regular speaker at major design and tech events, Xavier is also a director of Smartgeometry, a non-profit, global educational network for computational and digital design specialists.

Xavier’s projects include the new Future Lunar Base for The European Space Agency, the Mars Habitat for NASA and the Lower Earth Orbit Station for Sierra Space.

This conversation will be facilitated by Bonnie Shaw, a co-founder of Place Intelligence and the DiD.

Bonnie is a respected leader in data informed design, emerging technologies, and adaptive leadership. She is the co-founder of Place Intelligence and the Data informed Design community. Bonnie was a 2021 finalist in the Women in AI awards and was recognised as one of 25 global leaders in the 2023 AI Visionary Awards. A trained landscape architect and urban designer, Bonnie helped to establish and lead Australia's first (and multi-award winning) Smart Cities Office at the City of Melbourne.

This event is online only and will run for approximately 1hr