ACADIA 2020 will take place in a virtual format on October 26-31, 2020. The conference theme, Distributed Proximities, offers an opportunity for the ACADIA community to consider our work in the context of the new realities of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event will feature keynotes by recognized leaders in the field, talks by recipients of ACADIA’s annual awards program, online exhibitions of both curated and peer-reviewed work, and peer-reviewed paper and project presentations of cutting-edge research showcasing the innovative application of computational practices in architecture and design. The conference leadership team includes members of ACADIA's Board of Directors from across North America; serving as co-chairs are Viola Ago (Rice University), Matias del Campo (University of Michigan), Shelby Elizabeth Doyle (Iowa State University), Adam Marcus (California College of the Arts), Brian Slocum (Universidad Iberoamericana), and Maria Yablonina (University of Toronto).

CONFERENCE THEME

Abrupt shifts due to the global pandemic have precipitated myriad experiments in remoteness, improvised virtual communities, and rapid retooling to address novel urgencies. These circumstances provide an opportunity to reflect upon practices and priorities, to recognize the interdependent coevolutionary nature of our planet, society, and built environment, and to collectively re-imagine alternate futures.

Acknowledging the volatile disruptions of normal routines, Distributed Proximities aims to explore the complex contours of the moment by privileging operative modalities and their (re)organizational logics. The term “distributed computing” refers to any parallel computation process that partitions a complicated task into discrete quanta. Originally relying upon an operating system architecture with physically separated processing nodes, the system’s connected array structure is the source of its robustness. In the current state of forced semi-autonomy, a remarkable simulacrum has emerged: diverse, ad hoc adaptations—academia fragmented, distributed research, bottom-up fabrication—that demonstrate the resilience and ingenuity of the computational design community in the face of crisis.

With this reality as a point of departure, Distributed Proximitiesinvites contributions of recent and emerging work in computational design innovation and culture. In addition to completed research, this year we encourage the submission of work that is in-process, behind-the-scenes, recently initiated, and in-formation.

ACADIA 2020 will be an entirely virtual event, featuring peer-reviewed, juried, and curated content, published proceedings, as well as live discussions and activities that aim to radically open up the conversation around computational design and its critical dialogues. 

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Acknowledging the disruptive change to established design, research practices, and routines, Distributed Proximities aims to investigate the current condition by prioritizing the processes and protocols by which the work is produced, rather than merely its artifacts. These include factors both mundane and extraordinary that may converge to impact research and production, and the logics employed in the (re)structuring of these investigations. Relying on the methods of distributed computing as a metaphor for resilience and ingenuity of our fragmented community, ACADIA 2020 intends to explore and encourage newly emerging practices of distributed research, practice and pedagogy. 

We invite submissions addressing one or more, but not limited to, the following themes: 

Adaptation and Disruption

  • Computational design and health
  • Retooling of fabrication and robotic craft
  • Emergent modes of practice and cross-disciplinary collaboration
  • Biological interactions, environmental responsiveness, ecological adaptation 

Performative Synthesis

  • Simulation, prototyping, and energy modeling
  • Environmental tectonics and performance optimization
  • Augmented construction and synthetic workflows 

Material Processes

  • Emergent and self-organizing material systems
  • Composite matter, biomaterials, and synthetics
  • Programmable matter and advanced material design 

Resilient Automation

  • Artificial Intelligence: theory, practice, aesthetics
  • Robotic construction, fabrication, and operation
  • Machine learning: between expediency and sensibility
  • Real-time sensing and interaction, from the material to the urban scales
  • Procedural and algorithmic workflows and labor Computational Cultures
  • The emergence of novel design cultures, representations, and aesthetics
  • Architectures of care
  • Remote practices: spaces of isolation, disrupted pedagogies, repurposed fabrication
  • Notes on lab work and behind-the-scenes (glassbox vs blackbox)
  • Politics of access

SUBMISSION TYPES & DEADLINES

1. Technical Papers: Extended Abstracts: This year, given the extraordinary circumstances, ACADIA 2020 will shift from a full paper submission to a blind peer-review extended abstract submission format (1000-words). Extended abstracts selected for presentation to the conference will be invited to produce a short video presentation for the conference, and will be invited to submit full-length papers (4000-word Full papers or 2000-word Work-In-Progress Papers) for publication in the proceedings. Published papers will be included in the CumInCad database. All ACADIA papers are searchable through ResearchGate and Scopus.

2. Projects: Project submissions will be blind peer reviewed and featured on the ACADIA website. Projects will be published in a special Projects publication and featured on the ACADIA website. Select submissions may be invited to contribute a video presentation and/or participate in a discussion panel during the virtual conference.

3. Videos: This year, standalone videos will be a new submission type to the ACADIA Conference, as an alternative to the traditional paper or project submission formats. Video submissions shall be anonymous and will be selected by a jury. Simultaneous submissions to Papers/Projects and Videos are possible; each submission will be evaluated on its own merits. 

4. Field Notes: Field Notes are a new submission type to the 2020 ACADIA Conference and are an invitation for shorter pieces that may include experimental ideas, behind-the-scenes, observations, brief narratives, provocations, manifestoes, regarding the culture and practice of computational design. Submissions will be jury selected and published in the Project Book and as a special feature on the ACADIA website. Select submissions may be invited to participate in a discussion panel during the virtual conference.