Spatial Designer }{ Experience Designer
I am Ava Aghakouchak, a designer finding her place in-between technology, art and architecture.
My work focuses on the relationship between the human body-mind and the spaces which it might inhabit. I design realities which extend beyond the physical to include the virtual, mixed, and augmented. These realities blend the boundaries between the sensed and imagined to create experiences that challenge sensory habits and cognitive biases.
In the work that I engage with and produce, I center users' embodied, embedded, extended and enactive experience of the outer world to not only design for the senses, but to also encourage movement, engagement, interaction and imagination. The result is a set of design strategies that transform and metamorphisize according to the goals and context of each project.
Education
Experience
//PHD CANDIDATE in ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN (JAN 2017 - JAN 2023)
Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, London, UK
Supervisors: Professor Stephen Gage, Dr. Christopher Leung
//MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE in ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN (SEP 2015 - SEP 2016)
Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, London, UK
BPro Architectural Design, Discrete Design Lab
//BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE in ARCHITECTURAL ENGINEERING (SEP 2010 - JULY 2015)
School of Architecture, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Center of Excellence in Architectural Technology
//HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA in MATHEMATICS (SEP 2006 - JULY 2010)
Kherad Educational Complex, Tehran, Iran
//Lead UX Designer (XR) (Jun 2023 - Present)
Born Studios Ltd
+ Led the end-to-end design of ActiveMatterXR, a category-defining comprehensive B2B tool that
radically changes training and assistive support on-site
+ Incorporated industry-specific features, enhancing content curation, training progress
monitoring, and performance assessment, resulting in a 40% increase in user engagement
+ Integrated custom-tailored design strategies with specialized features that accommodated
both beginner and expert professionals, boosting training efficiency by 35%
//Lecturer in Design for Performance and Interaction (APR 2018 - Present)
University College London (UCL)
+ Mentored more than 50 graduate students in a design and research program that engages with
topics of immersive storytelling, situated intelligence, and spatial computing
+ Supervised students with design projects at the postgraduate level while promoting sensitivity
for embodied cognition, forecasting trends, and encouraging social and cultural transformation
//Creative Technologist (XR) (OCT 2019 - MAR 2022)
Studio Wayne McGregor
// Experience Designer and Creative Consultant (SEP 2016 - SEP 2019)
Freelance
//Architectural Designer (MAR 2013 - AUG 2015)
Jamm Design and Construction
+ Workshops
//Co-Organizer and Haptics Expert; “Audio.visuo.haptic Screendance” (Oct, Nov 2021)
Studio Wayne McGregor. London, UK
//Organizer and Lead Instructor; “Resensing the Constant” (Sep 2019)
Platform 28, Ab-Anbar Gallery. Tehran, Iran
//Lead Instructor; “Heterotopian Bodies” (May 2018)
Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. London, UK
//Teaching Assistant; “Press Play; VI Arduino Workshop” (Sep 2017)
Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. London, UK
//Teaching Assistant; “Press Play; V Arduino Workshop” (Sep 2016)
Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. London, UK
//Assistant; PROTO ECOLOGIAS, MULTI-DISCIPLINARY WORKSHOP (APR 2016)
Museu Do Amanha, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
//Teaching Assistant; INTERACTIVIDADE1 ARDUINO WORKSHOP (APR 2016)
FABLABLIVRE SP, Sao Paulo, Brazil
+ Talks
//Invited Speaker [Panel Discussion]: Digital Futures; New Hybridities - Middle Eastern Minds. 2021.
//Invited Speaker [Panel Discussion]: Conscious Cities Festival. Conscious Barcelona; The Person-space Continuum. 2021.
//Guest Lecturer: Arts-informed Research Methods. University of Greenwich. 2021.
//Invited Speaker [Panel Discussion]: Digital Futures; Inclusive Futures - Conversations on Inclusivity, Disability and Human Body. 2021.
//Invited Speaker: Possible Futures Lecture Series. Design for Performance and Interaction. 2020.
//Invited Speaker: Lesser Senses. Walmer Yard. 2019.
//Participant: PhD Research Conference 2019. Bartlet School of Architecture. 2019.
//Guest Lecturer: (Neuro)Science of Architecture. Contemporary Architects Association of Iran. 2018.
//Invited Speaker: Sarotis [and Making of]. Resonate Media Arts Festival. 2017.
//Invited Speaker: Sentimental Soft Robotics. Royal College of Arts. 2016.
+ Crits
//MArch, Architectural Design. Bartlett School of Architecture.
//MArch, Design for Performance and Interaction. Bartlett School of Architecture.
//BArch, Architectural Design. Westminster University.
Exhibitions/
Screenings
+ Sovar Project and Short Film
//Ars Electronica. Postcity Linz, Austria. 2019.
//Dutch Design Week. Manifestations, Eindhoven, Netherlands. 2019.
//Doclisboa International Film Festival. Lisbon, Portugal. 2019.
//Proyector Video Art Festival. Madrid, Spain. 2020.
//Wolf Kino Cinema. Berlin, Gemrany. 2019.
//Research Projects Exhibition. Bartlett School of Architecture, London. 2019.
+ Sarotis Project and Short Film
//Athens Digital Arts Festival. Athens, Greece. 2021.
//Harper’s Bazaar 150th Anniversary Exhibition. Museum of Contemporary Arts, Shanghai, China. 2017.
//Proyector Video Art Festival. Madrid, Spain. 2020.
//The Impakt Festival. Utrecht, Netherlands. 2019.
//Doclisboa International Film Festival. Lisbon, Portugal. 2019.
//Wolf Kino Cinema. Berlin, Gemrany. 2019.
//Resonate Media Arts Festival. Belgrade, Serbia. 2017.
//Tomorrows. Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens, Greece. 2017.
//Innovation in Haptics. Royal Academy of Engineering, London, UK. 2017.
//BodyHack Con. Austin TX, USA. 2017.
//Memememe Exhibition. Crypt Gallery (St Pancras), London, UK. 2017.
+ Lubion Short Film
//REDCAT, CalArt’s Downtown Center for Contemporary Arts, Los Angeles, USA. 2020.
//Casablanca Video Art Festival. Online. 2020.
//Mr Majidi and the Electricity Box Exhibition. VO Curations, London, UK. 2019.
Press
Digital (selected)
//Le Monde
//Design Milk
//Tracks-ARTE.TV
//Adafruit
//El Futuro Es Apasionante
//Discover Haptics
Printed
//Tomorrows; Urban Fictions for Possible Futures.
//Pasajes Arquitectura.