IJAC Call -- Ecological Levers: On Degrees of Autonomy and Interdependence
IJAC - Call for Paper - IJAC/ACADIA Guest Editors: Ehsan Baharlou, Adam Marcus, Sina Mostafavi. Tsz Yan Ng, Maria Yablonina
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
International Journal of Architectural Computing
ACADIA / IJAC SPECIAL ISSUE
Ecological Levers: On Degrees of Autonomy and Interdependence
“Technology is the active human interface with the material world.” — Ursula K. Le Guin
As architects grapple with the changing landscape of research and practice in the context of global climate change and uncertainty, important questions arise regarding the discipline’s entanglements with broader ecological systems. How can architecture play a more direct role in engaging with and negotiating between ecosystems, biological, political, or otherwise? What role might computation play in such engagements—both technically as an interface with complex systems, and conceptually in advocating for expanded sensibilities of interdependency and relational coexistence? How might computational methods and emerging modalities of automation, perhaps paradoxically, subvert inherited legacies of irreconcilable binaries between the natural and the technological, to offer new and synthetic models of design, fabrication, and cohabitation?
This issue of IJAC seeks submissions that explore the capacity for design computation and building automation to uncover, catalyze, support, and nurture new interdependencies among humans, machines, and ecosystems. “Ecological levers” are offered here as a metaphor to provoke a range of approaches and responses to the prompt, with levers being active agents that interface between actors or systems. On a simple mechanics level, an exerted force at one end of a lever will meet with equal resistance from the other end. If that initial force is amplified by some type of catalyzing lever (such as a pulley system), the resulting effect can invoke a much greater force or net positive outcome, beyond that which was initially applied. This volume asks, what intermediary levers are at our disposal to address systemic change as we face dire ecological crises? How do we modulate the complex levers and interdependencies to affect impactful outcomes that are beneficial, just, and lasting? How can computational processes and novel technologies guide our efforts to be better stewards of our material world, from the nanoscale to large ecosystems? What emergent models can we reimagine for co-creation and co-existence?
We invite submissions to elucidate on degrees of autonomy to better understand the interplay of interdependencies across both computational processes and their materialization in architectural constructions. Authors are encouraged to explore the multifaceted relationship between humans, non-humans, more-than-humans, artificial intelligences, and (un)natural ecosystems. Of particular interest is the extent to which boundaries are blurred and are dynamically redefined through constructive relationships and collaboration.
Scope of the Special Issue
Engagements and Entanglements | How can computational design and fabrication workflows enable new, broader architectural engagements with plants, animals, fungi, and other more-than-human species?
Materiality and Performance | How might new forms of living and ecologically performative materials influence future construction practices?
Energy and Decarbonization | What role can computation play in elevating architecture’s role in the global energy transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable sources of energy?
Simulation and Modeling | What new forms of simulation and modeling can facilitate expanded forms of ecological engagement?
Circular Constructs | In what ways can extraction, waste management, urban mining, resource tracking, and design for reversibility be employed to foster greater interdependence and enhance the intelligent autonomy of circular systems?
Human-Machine Interaction | What new paradigms of autonomy, interdependence, and symbiosis of human-machine interaction may emerge, and do current models need reevaluation to adapt to our evolving technological landscape, societal demands, and modes of labor market?
Evolving Hybrid Subjectivities | What new subjectivities emerge as we consider hybrid approaches to materiality, robotics, artificial intelligence, and ecological systems? How might such strategies challenge the binary between “natural” and “artificial”?
Politics of Decentering | What new agencies, critiques, and politics emerge from decentering the human from processes of design, simulation, fabrication, and assembly?
Research and Collaboration | What might be new models for research, funding, and measuring impact? Do existing models need updating? Are there emergent frameworks that align better with our contemporary context and needs?
To submit a paper, please follow submission guidelines and instructions on how to submit at: https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/international-journal-of-architectural-computing/journal202464
In your submission, please indicate that you are submitting your manuscript for consideration in “ACADIA SPECIAL ISSUE: Ecological Levers.” This issue will be part of the IJAC Vol. 22 Issue 4.
If you have any questions or would like to volunteer as a reviewer, please contact the IJAC Editorial board at ijac@acadia.org
Important Dates
Papers Due: March 15, 2024
Decisions By: June 20, 2024
Revisions and Final Manuscript Due: July 1, 2024
Publication: December 1, 2024
IJAC/ACADIA Guest Editors
Ehsan Baharlou
Adam Marcus, Chair
Sina Mostafavi
Tsz Yan Ng
Maria Yablonina
IJAC/ACADIA Editorial Board
Ehsan Baharlou
Dana Cupkova
Nathan King
Daniel Koehler
Adam Marcus
Sina Mostafavi
Tsz Yan Ng
Kyle Steinfeld
Maria Yablonina
More Info:
http://acadia.org/news/H9KGW3
