Third Thursday: Democratising DesignTech

An evening of talks and discussion where we’ll present the findings from our latest research into the state-of-the-art in design technology, and hear key reflections from those working in the field.

David v Goliath: As the architecture profession becomes more polarised between smaller bespoke practices, and larger commercial firms tooling up their BIM operations – we’ll give a glimpse of the software arms race between big tech, startups and social enterprises looking to fill the gaps in between.

What DesignTech do our cities need?: If we collectively agree that our cities need to become more sustainable, democratic and equitable within the limits of the planet, then what does this mean for the technology’s effect on design? From Google’s Sidewalk Toronto, to Airbnb’s highly secretive Samara project. From Arup’s efforts to visualise embodied carbon, to Open System Labs’ goals of creating digitised and democratic planning system. We’ll run through the divergent futures of DesignTech and why it matters.