ACADIA 2019 will be hosted by The University of Texas at Austin in Austin, TX. The event will consist of workshops October 21-23, followed by the main conference October 24-26, 2019.

We find ourselves at a moment where there is no longer a clear divide between analog and digital processes; the digital world is as ubiquitous and inescapable as the material, affecting virtually every aspect of our lives and planet. Geographical boundaries are transcended and remade as digital tools move goods, services, and ideas across global networks while increasingly powerful technologies find their way into our homes, offices, and personal belongings. In the age of Blockchain, CRISPR, global computing, on-demand manufacturing, and artificial intelligence, technology’s accessibility and instrumentality may be both celebrated and critically challenged. 

As digital tools have expanded and disrupted vast market sectors, spawned new ones, and remade industry, the discourse of architecture has in large part responded by drifting toward theories and practices of a more autonomous nature. Some practices have leveraged access to digital tools and techniques to develop approaches which tend to favor articulation and separation while often ignoring the connective and trans-disciplinary potential afforded by new technologies. Still others believe that the time has come to search for alternative regimes from which innovation and new forms of practice might emerge.

The ACADIA 2019 Theme, Ubiquity and Autonomy, suggests a domain in which pervasive computational power requires new theories, modes of operation, and systems of production for architecture. As disciplinary foundations are re-engaged and new technologies emerge, we must question the very nature of how technology is being used and how the scope of architecture may expand. The conference co-chairs seek papers and projects highlighting experimental research in areas of aesthetics, representation, fabrication, theory, and design pedagogy while critically engaging questions suggested by the theme. ACADIA 2019 will bring together designers, academics and practitioners who engage, question, and aspire to interrogate, stretch, or transcend these boundaries. Architects, fabricators, engineers, media artists, technologists, software developers, hackers, and others in related fields of inquiry are invited to submit works that explore, but are not limited to, the following topics: 

  • History and theory of digital architecture and production
  • Fabrication and robotic craft
  • Energy modeling, simulation and prototyping
  • Composite materials and tectonics
  • Virtual and augmented environments
  • Emergent and self-organizing systems
  • Dynamic information modeling
  • Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI)
  • Bio-philia, Bio-mimicry, Bio-Technological Design
  • Responsive environments; sensing, actuation and feedback 

Works may be submitted in one of the following three categories: 1. Full Papers (4,000 words); 2. Work-In-Progress Papers (2,000 words); and 3. Projects (for Exhibition). Accepted works will be included in one of the following: Full Paper Presentations (full sessions with Q&A), the Work-In-Progress Paper Sessions (shorter sessions with Q&A), or the Projects Exhibition. All works will be published in either the Conference Proceedings or Exhibition Catalog. 

STUDENT TRAVEL SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE

ACADIA wants to make sure the best and the brightest students will attend ACADIA 2019! ACADIA Student and Recent Graduate Scholarships will be available to students with financial need accepted in the 'Full Papers, Work-In Progress, and Projects' categories. Application details will be available upon acceptance.

IMPORTANT DATES

  • SUBMISSION DEADLINE for Full Papers, Work-In Progress (for blind peer-review): May 1, 2019
  • SUBMISSION DEADLINE for Projects (for blind peer-review): May 15, 2019
  • Notification of acceptance by e-mail: Monday, June 17, 2019
  • Revised submissions due (for proceedings): Monday July 15, 2019