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Mediating Material Transitions. A Digital Library For Circular Upholstery Material Selection., Ludovica Rosato, Patrizia Bolzan, Laura Succini, Michele Zannoni Jun 2026

Mediating Material Transitions. A Digital Library For Circular Upholstery Material Selection., Ludovica Rosato, Patrizia Bolzan, Laura Succini, Michele Zannoni

DRS Biennial Conference Series

In Made in Italy products, the material dimension represents a distinctive element, capable of expressing both the quality of the product and the heritage of craftsmanship embedded in the territory. In the upholstered furniture sector materials generate significant environmental and supply-chain impacts, making their selection a strategic leverage point for sustainability and circularity. This study investigates how a digital material library can support designers and SMEs in navigating this transition by integrating sustainable innovation with industrial feasibility. Grounded in the Advanced Design framework, the research adopts a four-step methodology to analyse the current supply system, identify circular alternatives, review existing …

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Re-Materialising Design: Material Agency And The Reconfiguration Of Creative Practice, Olga Ioannou Jun 2026

Re-Materialising Design: Material Agency And The Reconfiguration Of Creative Practice, Olga Ioannou

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper examines biobased materials as agents of creative and systemic transformation within design practice. Drawing from a university course on circular building product design, several graduation theses, and two research projects -one focused on food waste valorisation and another on load-bearing mycelium composites- it investigates how engagement with biobased, regenerative materials reconfigures the designer’s role across the value chain, from sourcing to post-use reintegration. By situating material experimentation within ecological and socio-technical transitions, the paper argues that biobased materials enable a re-materialisation of design knowledge, where making becomes a mode of inquiry into interdependencies between nature, technology, and culture. …

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Proximity Ruff: Rehabilitating Relationality Through Postdigital Bodies, Michela Musto, Marzia Micelisopo Jun 2026

Proximity Ruff: Rehabilitating Relationality Through Postdigital Bodies, Michela Musto, Marzia Micelisopo

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Proximity Ruff explores embodied interaction and social care through a wearable device that translates human proximity into light. Designed within The Spark Design Research Studio (Naples, Italy), it reinterprets the historical ruff as a postdigital interface that re-educates the body to closeness after the pandemic. Generated through evolutionary algorithms and 3D-printed in bioplastic PLA, the piece embeds 72 LEDs and proximity sensors that visualize interpersonal distance. Beyond quantification, the luminous feedback materializes affective data, transforming social gestures into somatic awareness. Grounded in somaesthetic design and critical materiality, the project investigates how sensing systems and computational materials can mediate care, empathy, …

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Reorienting Design Futures With Hope, Manuela Celi, Victoria Rodriguez Schon Jun 2026

Reorienting Design Futures With Hope, Manuela Celi, Victoria Rodriguez Schon

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper reorients Design Futures through hope as a situated, anticipatory, and actionable practice for working within postnormal conditions marked by uncertainty, systemic crisis, and defuturing. Bringing together futures studies, feminist epistemologies, and decolonial perspectives, it argues that design can help imagine and enact alternatives through situated interventions. The paper develops a conceptual and reflexive methodology that synthesizes three strands of literature; hope, hope and design, and hope and futures, and formulates three tactics for operationalizing hope in design practice: hoping as present-tense praxis, hoping otherwise, and projectual hope. Together, these frame hope as an ethical and political orientation that …

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Re-Voicing Identity: Care Ethics And The Politics Of Unsilencing After Total Laryngectomy, Gala Lucia Gonzalez Barrios Jun 2026

Re-Voicing Identity: Care Ethics And The Politics Of Unsilencing After Total Laryngectomy, Gala Lucia Gonzalez Barrios

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Voice loss after total laryngectomy disrupts identity and quality of life yet current assistive technologies reproduce techno-ableist assumptions, prioritizing speech mimicry over identity restoration while systematic marginalization excludes laryngectomees from research and innovation. This paper presents a care-centred participatory design agenda bridging a propositional approach “Singing Without a Larynx”, a vowel-based vocal interface for singing, with cross-cultural photovoice research in the United States and Argentina. Grounded in care ethics, we operationalize attentiveness, responsibility, and relational accountability, positioning participants as co-designers whose embodied knowledge shapes technological imaginaries, and community challenges and assets. We propose: (1) a critical framework integrating care ethics, …

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Material Driven Design Education: Exploring Circularity And Regeneration Through Waste-Based Experimentation, Ziqian Yu, Chengjun Li, Mei Yang, Hongwei Li, Valentina Rognoli Jun 2026

Material Driven Design Education: Exploring Circularity And Regeneration Through Waste-Based Experimentation, Ziqian Yu, Chengjun Li, Mei Yang, Hongwei Li, Valentina Rognoli

DRS Biennial Conference Series

In light of the escalating climate and resource crises, design education must reconsider its role in shaping circular and regenerative futures, particularly with regard to emerging materials from waste. This paper presents the results of a pedagogical study conducted at the Joint School of Design and Innovation of Xi’an Jiaotong University and Politecnico di Milano. In this study, 120 students transformed local food and textile waste into new materials through hands-on experimentation, based on the Material Driven Design (MDD) approach, in a Chinese educational context. A comparative analysis of six student projects across toy and accessory applications reveals a synergy …

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Breaking The Cycle: Understanding Self-Experimentation As A Health Behavior Change Approach For Young Adults With Adhd, Çağla Şen, Jaap Daalhuizen, Jos J. Kraal Jun 2026

Breaking The Cycle: Understanding Self-Experimentation As A Health Behavior Change Approach For Young Adults With Adhd, Çağla Şen, Jaap Daalhuizen, Jos J. Kraal

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is characterized by executive dysfunctions that disrupt the initiation and maintenance of everyday behaviors, making habit formation challenging. As a result, many individuals with ADHD struggle to sustain healthy routines. Conventional behavior change approaches overlook the complexity and variability of ADHD, highlighting the need for adaptive and personalized methods such as Self-Experimentation (SE). This study explores the potential of SE in supporting individuals with ADHD to change health behaviors. Using a Research through Design approach, stakeholders were involved across three iterative phases. The process resulted in two prototypes that facilitated SE while generating insights on how individuals …

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Exploring Everyday Heritage Futures: Co-Creating Urban Narratives Through Cultural Probes, Guo Chen, Robert G. Harland, Michael Wilson Jun 2026

Exploring Everyday Heritage Futures: Co-Creating Urban Narratives Through Cultural Probes, Guo Chen, Robert G. Harland, Michael Wilson

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Narrative has long been used in cultural heritage for interpretation and communication, primarily within institutions and historic sites. Everyday heritage, however, foregrounds seemingly modest places and is constituted through routine interactions and practices, emphasising a continuing narrative between place and everyday life. Ubiquitous digital technologies make multi-layered narratives possible and bring underrepresented stories to light in situ. This pilot study in Loughborough’s Market Place, UK, explores narratives rooted in lived experiences that convey cultural-heritage significance. We designed and deployed cultural probes (a set of creative and speculative tasks) to prompt and record place-based stories. The analysis identified four themes: spatiality, …

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From Participatory Processes To Systemic Transformation: A Service Design Perspective On Four Italian Case Studies, Rachele Gracci, Alexandra Coutsoucos, Sonia Belhaj, Irene Patria, Marco Tognetti, Valentina Gianfrate Jun 2026

From Participatory Processes To Systemic Transformation: A Service Design Perspective On Four Italian Case Studies, Rachele Gracci, Alexandra Coutsoucos, Sonia Belhaj, Irene Patria, Marco Tognetti, Valentina Gianfrate

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Participatory Processes (PPs) are increasingly fostering broader civic engagement, strengthening dialogue and collaboration between citizens, the third sector and public institutions. However, a gap persists between participatory aspirations and their implementation, limiting the capacity of processes to generate durable transformations in local governance structures and public service innovation. Employing a qualitative-comparative methodology, based on stakeholder mapping and service-ecosystem lens, the study analyses four novel cases involving green and peri-urban transformations across diverse Italian regions. By operating under diverse administrative frameworks, they present fertile ground for illustrating complementary and mutually reinforcing PPs. Through a Service Design lens, recurring patterns and mechanisms …

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Designing For Emotion: A Scoping Review Of Phygital Emotional Experience Design In Historical Museums, Linlin Wang, Jiarui Wu*, Yi Zhang, Sai Ma, Yingji Wang Jun 2026

Designing For Emotion: A Scoping Review Of Phygital Emotional Experience Design In Historical Museums, Linlin Wang, Jiarui Wu*, Yi Zhang, Sai Ma, Yingji Wang

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Abstract: As digital technology becomes an integral part of museum services and strategies, visitor experiences have evolved from physical to phygital experiences. Phygital emphasizes the fusion of digital and physical environments, constructing complex emotional scenarios that bridge those realms across different exhibition phases—from entry and immersion to extended experiences—thus distinguishing itself from traditional, object-led historical museums. This scoping review employs a hybrid deductive-inductive coding method to analyse 54 publications from databases including WOS, IEEE Xplore, Scopus, PubMed, and PsycInfo. It proposes a DES emotional experience framework for historical museums and identifies corresponding technological interventions and design directions. The study advocates …

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The Intrusive Sounds Of Resilence., Andrea Cera, Georgios Loupas, Eleftheria Lagiokapa, Nefeli Valeria Georgakopoulou, Sotiris Diplaris, Stefanos Vrochidis, Eleonora Ceccaldi, Nicola Corbellini, Simone Ghisio, Antonio Camurri Jun 2026

The Intrusive Sounds Of Resilence., Andrea Cera, Georgios Loupas, Eleftheria Lagiokapa, Nefeli Valeria Georgakopoulou, Sotiris Diplaris, Stefanos Vrochidis, Eleonora Ceccaldi, Nicola Corbellini, Simone Ghisio, Antonio Camurri

DRS Biennial Conference Series

In a ReSilence (S+T+Arts) residency dedicated to the consequences of urban soundscapes on human movement, 36 sound-files and their spectral analyses were considered as examples of auditory intrusiveness (intended as a pre-conscious effect, anticipating conscious behaviors). These 36 sounds were used in three modules: a pilot experiment to study the influence of auditory intrusiveness on human movement; an installation, where the sound-files were triggered by the participants' movement qualities – moreover, their spectral analyses served as prompts to an image-generating GAN network; in the design of a smartphone app, where the 36 analyses allowed to study the spectral features to …

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Balancing Aesthetics And Protection: How Digital Artists Navigate Structural Inequities Through Aesthetic Watermarking, Runqi Fang, Changjuan Ran, Shenglan Cui, Xiangyu Meng, Biyao Li, Fang Liu Jun 2026

Balancing Aesthetics And Protection: How Digital Artists Navigate Structural Inequities Through Aesthetic Watermarking, Runqi Fang, Changjuan Ran, Shenglan Cui, Xiangyu Meng, Biyao Li, Fang Liu

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Online presentations of digital art place artists in an ongoing trade-off between gaining exposure and protecting copyright, one that current platforms inadequately support. As a result, artists often rely on aesthetic watermarks, yet how they manage this balance remains underexplored. In this study, we conducted a co-creation workshop with 18 digital artists and examined how they design aesthetic watermarks in practice. Analysis reveals three key concerns shaping their decisions: aesthetic integrity, semantic fidelity, and protective functionality. Participants struggled to manage the tension between protection and artistic completeness, while also expressing growing concerns about the security of their work, facing rapid …

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Historical Materials As Materials For Design, India Anderson, Skye Doherty, Ben Matthews Jun 2026

Historical Materials As Materials For Design, India Anderson, Skye Doherty, Ben Matthews

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Historical materials can support generative design work, however a tendency to focus on new and emerging technologies as design material mean the creative qualities of the past are underappreciated. This paper presents findings from four workshops that explore material and immaterial forms of history to better understand how the past might serve as material for design. Our findings illustrate how different material forms afford or limit relational connections to the present design context; that design references can hinder transformational experiences in practice; and how archival gaps and personal memory can also serve as design material. Our analysis underscores the need …

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Sounding Territories: Dis/Identificatory Codings As Relational Worlding, Grace Turtle, Błażej Kotowski, Elisa Giaccardi, Roy Bendor Jun 2026

Sounding Territories: Dis/Identificatory Codings As Relational Worlding, Grace Turtle, Błażej Kotowski, Elisa Giaccardi, Roy Bendor

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper presents Sounding Territories, a sonic performance developed with Fundación Organizmo (Colombia) that explores dis/identificatory codings as a tactic for resisting and subverting algorithmic capture. Building on queer and more-than-human perspectives, the project reorients computational logics from stable classification toward relational and generative forms of identification. Through deep listening, embodied performance, and model training, datasets were composed as relational constellations: entanglements of sounds and situations (e.g., fire–conversation–bird–wind) that enact the liveliness of data beyond representational frames. Rather than seeking legibility within existing taxonomies, dis/identification becomes a methodological reorientation–a performance of politics–that disturbs predictive logics and embraces illegibility as generative …

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Towards More-Than-Human Inclusion: Designing Artefacts That Cultivate Attentiveness For Engaging With More-Than-Human Worlds, Jorge Luis Siesquén Deza Jun 2026

Towards More-Than-Human Inclusion: Designing Artefacts That Cultivate Attentiveness For Engaging With More-Than-Human Worlds, Jorge Luis Siesquén Deza

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This research explores how Inclusive design can be expanded to recognise nonhuman stakeholders by engaging perspectives from the More-than-Human turn. Using Research-through-Design, the study combines literature, semi-structured interviews, and case studies to identify barriers to designers’ responsible engagement with nonhuman entities. The findings reveal that while designers are open to widening inclusion, current practices remain centred on human empathy, usability, and evidence, leaving nonhuman concerns unaccounted for. Instead of expanding the repertoire of prescriptive tools, what is needed is the cultivation of attentiveness and care that enables designers to engage meaningfully with nonhuman agencies. This research offers two contributions: (1) …

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Co-Speculating Future Design Research Opportunities In Community Sharing With Local Sharing Communities, Haili Wu, Bettina Nissen, Susan Lechelt Jun 2026

Co-Speculating Future Design Research Opportunities In Community Sharing With Local Sharing Communities, Haili Wu, Bettina Nissen, Susan Lechelt

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Sharing communities challenge traditional models of ownership by allowing their members to temporarily access resources such as DIY tools, workshop spaces, and musical instruments. Although designers and design researchers have previously involved sharing communities in design, there are additional opportunities to engage sharing communities in speculating about their possible futures. This study invited 13 participants from various local sharing communities in Scotland to collaboratively speculate on how developments in technology, infrastructure, the economy, politics, and social and cultural aspects might influence their community sharing practices in the long term. By examining their future scenarios, we gain insight into the possible …

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From Waste To Opportunity, Upcycling Innovation In The South African Context: The Case Of Clothes To Good, Jennifer Murray, Lindsey Carey, Desiree Smal, Adelaide Sheik Jun 2026

From Waste To Opportunity, Upcycling Innovation In The South African Context: The Case Of Clothes To Good, Jennifer Murray, Lindsey Carey, Desiree Smal, Adelaide Sheik

DRS Biennial Conference Series

South Africa is a country which is facing significant textile waste problem. High volumes of second-hand products are entering the marketplace and represent an opportunity to SMEs and micro-businesses. Clothes to Good (CTG), a South African charitable organisation, are working to offset this challenge by creating upcycling programmes which repurpose these products through micro-business models designed to empower mothers of neurodivergent children. Neurodiversity is rising in South Africa and sensory stimuli products are an opportunity to repurpose second-hand clothing to products to support these consumers. This research represents the pilot study of a larger project investigating micro-business programmes creating weighted …

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Design, Territory And Gastronomy: Relational Practices In Local Transformation Processes, Dafne Rivadeneira Griner, Laura De Souza Cota Carvalho Silva Pinto, Marcelo Silva Pinto Jun 2026

Design, Territory And Gastronomy: Relational Practices In Local Transformation Processes, Dafne Rivadeneira Griner, Laura De Souza Cota Carvalho Silva Pinto, Marcelo Silva Pinto

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Relational design practices, grounded in the collaboration among local producers, public institutions, and designers, have strengthened cultural identity and promoted new forms of economy based on values of sustainability and belonging. This article presents the development of a gastronomic festival as a living laboratory of transformation, carried out in the municipality of São Gonçalo do Rio Abaixo, Brazil, by the Design, Territory, and Gastronomy extension project of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). Based on the theories of relational design and design for transitions, the study highlights how design mediates local tensions, overcomes institutional challenges, and helps the reconstruction …

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From Discontent To Touchpoints: Analysing Art Festival Experience Design Through Participants’ Critical Feedback On Social Media, Wanchun Ye, Kin Wai Michael Siu, Yijia Jiang, Izzy Yi Jian Jun 2026

From Discontent To Touchpoints: Analysing Art Festival Experience Design Through Participants’ Critical Feedback On Social Media, Wanchun Ye, Kin Wai Michael Siu, Yijia Jiang, Izzy Yi Jian

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This study examines critical feedback shared by arts festival participants on social media. These posts, as a unique form of reflective user experience data, can spark dialogue and spread widely, helping to identify potential needs and key service touchpoints in the design of cultural and creative activities. Using purposive sampling, 104 relevant posts were collected and analysed thematically based on Buchanan’s four orders of design as a framework. The findings indicate that participant discontent stems from overlapping conflicts across different design orders, characterised by a lack of authenticity, value conflicts, and service limitations. Furthermore, the study emphasises the pivotal mediating …

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Research On Integrated Immersive Interaction Design For Revolutionary History Museums: A Case Study Of The Hongyan Revolutionary Memorial Museum, Peng Lou, Yilin Wang, Xinyue Ru, Zhengyan Fan Jun 2026

Research On Integrated Immersive Interaction Design For Revolutionary History Museums: A Case Study Of The Hongyan Revolutionary Memorial Museum, Peng Lou, Yilin Wang, Xinyue Ru, Zhengyan Fan

DRS Biennial Conference Series

As digital interactive technologies evolve, visitors have higher expectations for narrative experiences in revolutionary history museums. This study uses the three stages of flow theory—conditions, experience, and effects—as a starting point, integrating user experience design with narrative communication theory. A mixed research approach is employed to explore how digital interaction design can trigger user flow states and enhance immersion. By transforming passive observation into actively engaging flow experiences, we focus on three dimensions: the operability of hardware interaction, the guidance of software interfaces, and the immersion of content narratives. An integrated immersive interaction design model, termed “Three-Dimensional - Four-Stage,” is …

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Designing Inclusive Virtual Reality Experiences For Older Adults: Enhancing Digital Engagement And Challenging Digital Ageism, Lian Pan, Xiao Wei, Yuanyuan Yin Jun 2026

Designing Inclusive Virtual Reality Experiences For Older Adults: Enhancing Digital Engagement And Challenging Digital Ageism, Lian Pan, Xiao Wei, Yuanyuan Yin

DRS Biennial Conference Series

As global population ageing accelerates, virtual reality (VR) offers new opportunities to enhance older adults’ wellbeing, cultural participation, and social connection. Existing VR research concerning older adults has predominantly concentrated on medical or clinical applications. In contrast, this study investigates the potential affordances of VR for this population within cultural and entertainment domains. Through Participatory Design workshops with ten adults aged 60+ in UK, this study explores older adults’ user experience with VR and proposes recommendations for age-inclusive VR design. Results show that complex multi-step operations, dual-hand coordination, and complex menu structures create high cognitive load and reduce user confidence. …

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Strategic Thermal Design For Smartphones: An Experimental Analysis Of Zonal Heat Perception Across Hand Contact Regions, Ke Zeng, Xing Xiao, Haining Wang Jun 2026

Strategic Thermal Design For Smartphones: An Experimental Analysis Of Zonal Heat Perception Across Hand Contact Regions, Ke Zeng, Xing Xiao, Haining Wang

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Technical solutions dominate current approaches to smartphone overheating, yet user-centred strategies that exploit zonal thermal perception remain underexplored. This study examined how contact region (thumb, index finger, thenar eminence), surface temperature (36.0-43.5°C), and exposure duration (0s vs. 120s) jointly shape thermal experience. Thirty adults completed trials with a prototype featuring hotspots at high-frequency grip locations, rating perceived heat and thermal dissatisfaction using two Borg CR-10 items. A PERMANOVA revealed a significant Area × Temperature interaction (F = 10.35, p < .001): the thenar eminence showed disproportionately higher ratings at ≥ 42 °C than the other areas. Main effects of temperature and duration were also significant (p < .001), indicating discomfort intensifies with hotter surfaces and prolonged contact. These findings provide an empirical basis for strategic thermal zoning, placing or redirecting heat away from high-sensitivity regions, and complement hardware-level cooling with ergonomically informed design.

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Attuned Design Practice: Embodied Knowledge As A Design Vocabulary At The Intersection Of Artistic And Scientific Inquiry., Anne Marleen Olthof, Jouke Verlinden, Somaya Ben Allouch Jun 2026

Attuned Design Practice: Embodied Knowledge As A Design Vocabulary At The Intersection Of Artistic And Scientific Inquiry., Anne Marleen Olthof, Jouke Verlinden, Somaya Ben Allouch

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This article introduces Attuned Design Practice (ADP) as an umbrella term for studying embodied knowledge at the intersection of artistic and scientific inquiry. It addresses an epistemological gap across design and human–computer interaction, dance and somatics, and disability studies. Building on an existing framework of embodied knowing, we examine domain-specific traditions and expose the threshold between these knowledge domains. We propose Open Rehearsals as experimental settings for co-performance among human and non-human actors. Within this context, attunement is introduced as a performative materiality that enables relational, situated, and operational forms of understanding across disciplines. An eighteen-month field study in design, …

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From Interface To Intuition: Rethinking Design Ontologies In The Age Of Ambient Intelligence, Sergio Nava Jun 2026

From Interface To Intuition: Rethinking Design Ontologies In The Age Of Ambient Intelligence, Sergio Nava

DRS Biennial Conference Series

As artificial intelligence evolves into ambient, distributed systems, design faces an ontological transformation. The traditional interface, once the visible boundary between humans and machines, is dissolving, giving rise to new modes of intuitive, sensory, and relational interaction. This paper argues for a shift from interface to intuition, where design no longer mediates through visual representation but orchestrates subtle ecologies of perception and awareness. Drawing on design philosophy and posthuman theory, it explores how AI redefines core categories of form, presence, and authorship, suggesting that meaning now emerges through attunement rather than control. In this post-visual paradigm, designers act as mediators …

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Expanding Curriculum And Pedagogical Strategies In Architecture Education With Developments On Additive Manufacturing And Wood Composites, Carolina Manrique Hoyos, Randall Teal, Michael R. Maughan Jun 2026

Expanding Curriculum And Pedagogical Strategies In Architecture Education With Developments On Additive Manufacturing And Wood Composites, Carolina Manrique Hoyos, Randall Teal, Michael R. Maughan

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Faculty and students in our Architecture Department have been engaged as one of the four research teams in an interdisciplinary and interjurisdictional collaboration funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The overall goal of this research is to develop the science, technology, design, and educational frameworks focused on the utilization of wood waste to make 100% bio-based materials for the Advanced Housing Manufacturing Industry of the Future. The Architecture Cradle-to-Cradle Design Team (C2C) focused on: 1- developing design speculations and scenarios for wood composites and additive manufacturing architectural applications (research-by-design); 2- developing a customized assessment toolbox for determining performance benchmarks …

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Surfacing Design Requirements. A Conceptual Framework For Entity Identification In Smart Product-Service Systems, Elena M. Dumitrana, Vimal Dhokia, Bryan, C. C. Clift, Debbie J. Janson Jun 2026

Surfacing Design Requirements. A Conceptual Framework For Entity Identification In Smart Product-Service Systems, Elena M. Dumitrana, Vimal Dhokia, Bryan, C. C. Clift, Debbie J. Janson

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Smart Product-Service Systems (SPSS) design recognises the need to engage diverse stakeholders, yet traditional design approaches often overlook entities critical in the operationalisation of a SPSS - contextual users, regulators, AI entities - until late implementation stages. This paper argues that entity identification in SPSS design requires interrogating underlying assumptions about which entities matter and why. Drawing from systems thinking and human-centred design, the paper proposes a multi-dimensional framework for reconceptualising entities that warrant design consideration. Rather than presenting a neutral taxonomy, the framework provides structure for examining how design assumptions determine which perspectives are centred and which are overlooked …

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Menopause Technologies Beyond Ableism And Normativity, Omleila Mohammadi, Sabine Thayer, Bernhard Maurer, Verena Fuchsberger Jun 2026

Menopause Technologies Beyond Ableism And Normativity, Omleila Mohammadi, Sabine Thayer, Bernhard Maurer, Verena Fuchsberger

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Many technologies are available that address menopause, yet more or less exclusively reflect and reinforce dominant narratives of ableism and normativity. To uncover untold stories of the menopause journey and add perspective to the pluralistic menopause experience, we conducted two workshop sessions with cis women and gender-diverse individuals who have experienced menopause. Through feminist and reflexive methodology and using critical disability studies (CDS) as an analytical lens, we present how menopause experiences are shaped through bodily transformations and relational social practices. Finally, we discuss possible future design directions for shaping the menopause experience beyond its conventional notion. We call for …

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Design As Strategic Competence For The Evolving Energy Industry, Qing Tian, Xiangyang Xin Jun 2026

Design As Strategic Competence For The Evolving Energy Industry, Qing Tian, Xiangyang Xin

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Responding to the evolving changes in the energy industry—from government-led infrastructure development to business-driven energy solutions, and nowadays to energy products and services created by householders—this paper explores how design can contribute to this transition and create value across multiple frontlines. The paper begins by outlining the dynamics of the energy industry’s transformation and the reasons behind it, followed by a case study conducted in collaboration with an internationally recognized renewable energy technology company. The case study traces the evolution of design from a peripheral function to a central driver of corporate strategy. It identifies a triple-mechanism model through which …

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Positioning Wearable Design: Research-Practice Gaps And A Practice-Informed Model, Jialu Hou, Rowan Page, Chuan Khoo Jun 2026

Positioning Wearable Design: Research-Practice Gaps And A Practice-Informed Model, Jialu Hou, Rowan Page, Chuan Khoo

DRS Biennial Conference Series

With the emergence of technologies like Artificial Intelligence, wearable design is gathering renewed interest. Although design has an obvious role to play in developing wearables for user acceptance, the understanding of the role of design in wearables is fragmented and poorly understood. Through a scoping review, we highlight the fragmentation of the wearable research field and the lack of design-led approaches to developing wearable devices. To augment this lack of design literature, we analyze six design cases. The result reveals a key tension: wearable practice is rapidly expanding into interdisciplinary, speculative domains, blurring evaluative boundaries. To bridge this gap, we …

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Telling Stories, Making Hanzi: Ai-Assisted Co-Creation With Elderly Migrants In Urban China, Yunfei Chen, Wen Zhan, Peiyue Lin, Ziqun Hua, Ying Hu Jun 2026

Telling Stories, Making Hanzi: Ai-Assisted Co-Creation With Elderly Migrants In Urban China, Yunfei Chen, Wen Zhan, Peiyue Lin, Ziqun Hua, Ying Hu

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper explores how older migrants in urban China can record stories that everyday language and design often miss. We ran two co-creation workshops with 10 elders. Activities combined oral storytelling, facilitator-mediated AI assistance, and hand making. Large language models proposed candidate glyphs through a facilitator. Participants crafted new Hanzi to hold their stories. The resulting characters served as memory anchors for later sharing and retelling. Our interpretive analysis shows heterogeneity and adaptive capacity among participants. Participants experienced AI as a creative initiator that lowered barriers to expression and making, especially for those with lower digital literacy. The work challenges …

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