The Leisure Institute explores an alternative future shaped by artificial intelligence, where automation creates new opportunities for meaningful human activities. Set within the ecological landscape of Marshlands Conservancy in Rye, New York, the research investigates the relationship between architecture, natural formations, and the evolving dynamics between human and non-human environments.
The Leisure Institute is an advanced design research studio led by Alper Derinboğaz at Pratt GAUD during the Fall 2023 semester.
The studio proposes an alternative future where AI technologies liberate us from bureaucratic and repetitive tasks, allowing us to have more time for meaningful activities. Through an interdisciplinary curriculum, students explore impact-driven design, community-based architectural thinking, climate adaptation technologies, geospatial dynamics, and the utilization of generative techniques and AI tools.
Leisure time may have transformative contributions to human life and might develop meaningful relationships between us or other species. The advanced design research studio engages practical skills in utilizing generative techniques and AI tools to create site-specific and unique structures while critiquing contemporary challenges in social communities. The Leisure Institute envisions the potential impacts of the AI revolution on society, where one might foresee a future of communities with more free time, people wondering with curiosity and a creative drive.
In this advanced design research studio, simulations of various creation and growth methodologies for space-making are explored, further enriched by the integration of Artificial Intelligence. Inspired by Darwin’s Theory of Hot Springs, students explore and experiment with different generative techniques that enable the exploration of natural formations. This process provides a foundation for investigating opening strategies on surfaces, fostering iterative experimentation and design refinement influenced by nature’s innate ability to self-organize and evolve.
Studio Critics
Thanks to our critics for bringing diverse perspectives and fostering vibrant discussions in our studio #LeisureInstitute.
