UCLA M.S AUD Studio Project 

Instructors: Güvenç Özel, Laure Michelon, Tucker Van Leuwen-Hall

Collaborators: Danai Sougkara, Sanya Vithalkar, Srujana Bhoopanam

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Morphi is a year-long exploratory project that investigates the potential of emerging technologies in shaping future architectural practices. It combines tools such as CycleGAN, VQGAN, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) to expand the boundaries of spatial design, representation, and decision-making.

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The project emphasizes strategic thinking supported by research and diagramming. It challenges conventional workflows and reimagines architecture as an adaptive and computationally enriched discipline.

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Set in Cooper Basin, Australia, a site with significant renewable energy potential, Morphi proposes a speculative urban model where eco-tourism, industrial infrastructure, and wildlife coexist. This hybrid zone operates as a self-regulating urban system run by artificial intelligence and robotic networks, with minimal human intervention. As a living testbed for technologies such as algal biomass and solar power, the proposal reframes energy production as a regenerative interaction with the landscape rather than a form of extraction.

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At its core, Morphi investigates a new understanding of authorship. It frames design as a collaborative process shaped by the synergy between human intention, environmental systems, and technological intelligence. Rather than being a singular act of control, authorship emerges as a negotiation among interconnected forces.

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