In/Appropriate Technology

The human is inherently a technological animal; its bidirectional relationship with technology mediates its existence and shapes the environments that it inhabits. However, the factual probabilities of human-led ecological crises and the increasing automation of everyday life raises doubts about the belief in human progress through technology. This reality calls for a critical understanding of how emerging technologies generate new orders of knowledge as well as necessitate a redefinition of the mandates and values that shape disciplinary practice. For architecture, this means interrogating design as a technique through which humans create and interact with the material world, and asking if design serves intended needs or if it facilitates further reliance on technology?.

The guest studio at the ETH Department of Architecture FS 2025 challenges the conventional design process by emphasizing critical, open, and exploratory design methods. Through collective design research, generative AI, physical modeling, and curatorial practices—combined with diverse formats for shared reflection—the approach aims to formulate what could be described as collective design intelligence.

Parallel to the design studio, individual and group work will take place across two adjunct design research tracks with inputs from invited guests. These tracks will focus on revealing the limits and characteristics of technology while investigating the potentials of collective agency in shaping technique and formulating critical positions. If architecture is considered both primordial and technological, one might ask:

• What would happen if the reliance on non-vital technologies were drastically reduced?

• How might more sophisticated relationships with remaining technologies be developed?

• Can technology be considered neutral, or are the agendas of its creation embedded within it?

• In what ways do technological dependencies influence the design process?

• What values should technologies embody to reflect diverse cultural and social contexts?

• Can collective efforts alter the ways in which technologies shape the production of design knowledge?