Publications
Contributions as Book Chapters, Journal Publications, and Proceedings will be listed here as soon preprints are made available online.
Books
Book chapters and full contributions will be listed here as soon as preprints are made available online.
The Hypothesis of Greater Variance, or Why Considering Covert Responses in Human-Computer Interactions
Cutellic P. - in Brain Art, ed. Nijholt A., Springer 2023
Coming soon…
Interactive and Generative modeling loop. Neuramod.
Journals
Journal contributions for work-in-progress and full papers will be listed here as soon as preprints are made available online.
Study Protocol for Randomized Trials on Visual ERP for multiclass discrimination in CAAD applications
Cutellic P., Qureshi N.K. - in BMC Trials, 2022 (Work-In-Progress)
The proposed study aims to observe the detection of Event-Related Potentials’ components and correlated neural phenomena under the visual presentation of complex stimuli and devise processing methods that would generalize their classification for applications in Computer-Aided Architectural Design, where visual complexity becomes an intrinsic feature of the tasks. It aims to investigate the cardinality of discriminative neural patterns correlated with the presentation of complex visual stimuli by detecting subcomponents of these neural phenomena using the designed system on short and prolonged periods of time and involving participants from architecture, visual arts or related fields. Subsequent results will bring to further discussion the role of visual experience in such system and the range it might address in the population segment.
Interactive and Generative modeling loop. Neuramod.
Proceedings
Contributions to Conferences and Symposium Proceedings will be listed here as soon as preprints are made available online.
An Inverse Modeling Method to Estimate Uncertain Spatial Configurations From 2D Information and Time-Based Visual Discriminations
Cutellic P. - in Proceedings of Design Modelling Symposium, Berlin, 2022 (Full Paper)
Interactive and Generative modeling loop. Neuramod.
Growing Shapes with a Generalised Model from Neural Correlates of Visual Discrimination
Cutellic P, Khalid Qureshi N., in Proceedings of the 2020 DigitalFUTURES, Singapore, 2021 (Full Paper)
This paper focuses on the application of visual Event-Related Potentials (ERP) in better generalisations for design and architectural modelling. It makes use of previously built techniques and trained models on EEG signals of a singular individual and observes the robustness of advanced classification models to initiate the development of presentation and classification techniques for enriched visual environments by developing an iterative and generative design process of growing shapes. The pursued interest is to observe if visual ERP as correlates of visual discrimination can hold in structurally similar, but semantically different, experiments and support the discrimination of meaningful design solutions. Following bayesian terms, we will coin this endeavour a Design Belief and elaborate a method to explore and exploit such features decoded from human visual cognition.
Interactive and Generative modeling loop. Neuramod.
Courses
Academic obligatory and elective courses.
Friedrich Kiesler, Arch as a Rainbow of Shells, 1960–1965, The Estate of Frederick Kiesler, New York © Österreichische Friedrich und Lillian Kiesler-Privatstiftung, Wien
Architecture and its Cognition, Architectonics From The Mind.
CAAD Theory, Elective course Bc./Ms., Autumn semester 2024, Dr. Sc. P. Cutellic
If architecture aims to produce signification by articulating things together, where is such signification emerging from, and how? From a thing-in-the-world to an object-in-the-mind, to an object- in-the-world. This is the path the course will follow to introduce and discuss important research about human perception, cognition, and the capacity to make sense of the world and eventually act upon it. Such a path has been observed and questioned throughout centuries of human history and technological innovation and offers great potential for the near future of architecture. What questions and ideas emerged from that position in the worlds of arts, humanities, and science? What is at stake in digital industries, and what are the active research topics? Does it challenge the way we approach and experience architecture and its tasks? The course will start with these questions to depict in broad strokes the richness of ideas architecture and its cognition may offer.
Las Meninas, Las Vegas and Two Crises
Dr. Sc. Pierre Cutellic, ETH, 23.09.2024
This first course introduces students to the fundamentals of architectonics, framed within the crisis of meaning that dominated architectural thought in the second half of the 20th century. Surprisingly, the same concerns surfaced across the sciences, leading to the so-called cognitive crisis—a profound questioning of how meaning is constructed yet largely ignored in architecture. By drawing from these parallel intellectual movements, the course will provoke a deeper exploration of how things come to sense, connecting these vast ideas back to architecture. As a point of departure, the question leading the reflection from a human-centred perspective will be how architecture can now deal with and make sense of the world. The journey begins with a striking lesson drawn from a baroque masterpiece of the 17th century, opening new perspectives on architectural meaning and its reticulations.
Course Material:
– Things and Places, Zenon Pylyshyn, MIT Press, 2007
– Machine Learning From Las Vegas, Pierre Cutellic, Volume, 49, 2016
– Neurodesign: Modeling from Neural Potentials, Pierre Cutellic, ETH, 2022
Surroundings and Their Perception
Guest Speaker: Prof. Dr. Chris Salter, ZHdK, 14.10.2024
This course session delves into the concept of architectural surroundings as proposed by the architect/artist duo Madeline Gins and Arakawa, and seen from the lens of contemporary interactive and immersive media arts. Their radical approach reimagines architecture as a dynamic, interactive force that must actively stimulate and engage its occupants, rather than merely providing a static, passive environment. The duo’s vision, which grew out of 20th-century experimental architecture, emphasizes the need for continuous interaction between humans and their surroundings, proposing that architecture can shape consciousness by surrounding individuals with sensory-rich stimuli that encourage participation and immersion. This session explores how architecture can afford such interaction and questions its capacity to foster an immersive environment that enhances spatial awareness and sensory engagement. Through the lens of Gins and Arakawa’s work, students will critically assess the degree to which architecture is responsible for actively surrounding and involving human beings in sensory experiences that enrich environmental understanding. The discussion leads to a broader inquiry: what is the necessary reciprocal involvement of humans and their architectural surroundings in establishing meaningful immersion? By considering these ideas, students will explore the limits and potential of architecture as an active agent in shaping both individual perception and collective experience within the built environment.
Course Material:
– Architectural Surrounds, Gins and Arakawa, University Alabama Press, 2002
Getting Lost in Buildings
Guest Speaker: Prof. Dr. Christoph Hoelscher, ETH, 30.09.2024
This session challenges students to critically examine the relationship between design intent and the lived experience of navigating built environments. Through an extensive survey of cognitive science research, the course investigates how humans navigate complex informational landscapes, highlighting the processes of orientation, wayfinding, and the potential for disorientation within architectural spaces. Students will engage with theoretical frameworks that juxtapose the abstract nature of design with the tangible realities of physical experience, fostering a nuanced understanding of architectural rhetoric versus empirical observations. It encourages a reflective distance between the virtual constructs of design and their actual use, prompting students to consider the implications of this dichotomy on architectural practice. Central to the discourse is the inquiry: to what extent can architectural design incorporate scientific insights and empirical findings into its conceptual frameworks?
Course Material:
Architectonics from Artificial Minds
Guest Speaker: Ass. Prof. Dr. Immanuel Koh, SUTD, 28.10.2024
This session explores the frontiers of generative AI in architecture, introducing students to some of the latest research trends in machine learning’s creative applications. Immanuel Koh delves into the evolving role of AI models, examining their potential to both complement and challenge human creativity in the architectural design process. By showcasing recent advancements, he highlights AI’s ability to generate, evaluate, and adapt complex forms and spatial concepts, inviting an investigation into how these technologies might expand architects’ creative boundaries. Central to this discussion is a probing question: how might human intelligence and AI’s capacities intersect, interact, and even emulate one another? It suggests a future where AI not only assists in repetitive or technical tasks but actively participates in creative ideation, bringing a collaborative intelligence to architectural design. By combining human intuition with machine precision, the presentation hints at a transformative shift, one that holds the promise of discovering new architectural vocabularies and exploring spaces previously unimagined, all while remaining critically aware of each entity’s unique capabilities and constraints.
Course Material:
The Value of Values
Guest Speaker: Prof. Dr. Maurice Benayoun, NJU, 07.10.2024
This session features new perspectives from media arts. It offers a provocative exploration of human cognition and the processes through which the mind creates meaning and attaches values to sensory inputs. The presented approach challenges conventional understandings of how individuals relate to the world and its conceptual frameworks. It proposes that meaningfulness can be viewed as a form of currency—a medium of exchange between the mind and the world. Through this lens, it introduces a critical dialogue on the nature of creativity, questioning whether an individual’s mental productivity and imaginative potential may exceed what can be collectively achieved in the physical world. This session invites students to rethink the boundaries between individual cognition and shared experience, encouraging reflection on how meaning is internally and externally constructed.
Course Material:
– Art in The Age of Virtuality, Maurice Benayoun, Medium, 2024