The New Open

Consider a near future where data related to buildings and cities is open. Imagine how the look and feel of our world would be different, and how it could perform all kinds of radical new feats. If it was able to consider the critical ecological needs of the planet and manage our lifestyles in the way it creates and sustains built environments, could an open data world have more impact on change than any other space?

The New Open is a flagship project of the Department of Architecture at TU Delft, initiated and led by Georg Vrachliotis and the Theory of Architecture and Digital Culture Group to explore the role of open data for design and social change. We aim to address today’s and tomorrow’s most pressing concerns, from sustainable building materials and better design, to data literacy and data democracy, to curating the cohesive fabric of highly functioning, ecologically savvy, smart societies.

As a dynamic platform with ongoing critical contributions from global thought leaders in architecture, design, climate, data science, art, culture, economics and politics, The New Open rethinks the future foundations of design and its impact on our societies.

The New Open [Minds] Talks & Workshop 
We will launch our first international The New Open [Minds] Talks and Workshop on October 27 and 28, 2022 at TU Delft, The Netherlands. We invite the public into discussions about open data and the future of design alongside international luminaries and master storytellers, who will exchange their latest research on climate, artificial intelligence, architecture, data-driven design and social and cultural change.

With: Alan Turing Institute, Arup, Cambridge University, Certain Measures, Civic Data Design Lab, Foster+Partners, Harvard University, KAAN Architecten, KCAP, Mecanoo, MIT, MVRDV, OMA, Snøhetta, The Bartlett UCL

The New Open [Minds] Talks will feature keynote talks, interview-like conversations and panels from architects, designers and academics, including Sarah Williams (Civic Data Design Lab, MIT), Andrew Witt (Certain Measures / Harvard University), Kees Kaan (KAAN Architecten), Martha Tsigkari (Foster + Partners), Kristian Edwards (Snøhetta), Ruchi Choudhary (University of Cambridge / Alan Turing Institute) and Roberto Bottazzi (The Bartlett UCL), among others, who will each bring their expertise to the (open) table. 

The New Open [Minds] Workshop initiates an active dialogue, and presents new forms of collaboration between architects, data scientists and AI researchers on the use of open data for climate positive planning and design. This workshop is an initial step in discussing the fundamentals of how to design for a future open data society. The event will feature presentations and responses from Deniz Arikan (OMA), Leo Stuckardt (MVRDV NEXT), Javier Cuartero (KAAN Architecten), Alejandro Fuentes (KCAP), Lydia Giokari (Mecanoo), Claudiu Forgaci, Stefano Calzati, Seyran Khademi, and Diana Popa (TU Delft).

Vision
In a world drowning in data and pixelating in data fog, The New Open aims to increase data optimism through data literacy, and new ways of seeing, processing, interpreting and sharing data between architects, urban researchers, climate and computer scientists in collaboration with artificial intelligence.

The New Open explores “openness” by overcoming data sharing anxiety and scepticism. At the same time we aim to democratise data in order to make our collective data cloud more visible and useful for all, and to foster a co-creative mindset in the design of our living environments.

By unlocking a new data culture, the project cultivates architectural transformation by demonstrating the potential of open data as a resource for radically new design, and as a freely available resource to advise, inspire, and inform architectural practice, business decisions and planning.

For more information please visit here.