Simon Lesina-Debiasi
Teaching Fellow
Simon Lesina-Debiasi is an architectural designer, researcher, and artist whose interdisciplinary work focuses on exploring questions around the environmental impact of digital network infrastructure and material intelligence in fabrication and design.
He is currently a Postgraduate Teaching Fellow in the architecture department at MIT and worked previously as research assistant at the Self Assembly lab, teaching assistant at MIT, lecturer at the School of Architecture at Northeastern University, and architectural designer at Landing Studio.
He received a SMArchS in Design and Computation MIT, a M.Arch degree from Princeton University School of Architecture, and a B.Arch from the Institute for Art and Architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.
Projects
Sensing Buildings: Environmental Impact of Sensor Technologies and Data Infrastructure in Buildings
SMArchS Design & Computation Thesis
Abstract:
Building operations and the construction sector are one of the largest contributors to global
carbon emissions and energy consumption. While novel construction materials and insulation
offer lower embodied carbon solutions, improved heating and cooling devices offer cost and energy
effective building services. Above all, “smart” devices promise remote control, oversight, and
optimization of building operations. With the rising implementation of AI solutions to every
sector, it is important to see the digital devices as an interface to the material machinery they
are connected to.
This thesis reveals the missing components of energy evaluations in “smart” devices within
the walls, floors, windows, doors, and roofs of our building, to create a framework through
which building efficiency and sustainability can be reconsidered.
Abstract:
Building operations and the construction sector are one of the largest contributors to global
carbon emissions and energy consumption. While novel construction materials and insulation
offer lower embodied carbon solutions, improved heating and cooling devices offer cost and energy
effective building services. Above all, “smart” devices promise remote control, oversight, and
optimization of building operations. With the rising implementation of AI solutions to every
sector, it is important to see the digital devices as an interface to the material machinery they
are connected to.
This thesis reveals the missing components of energy evaluations in “smart” devices within
the walls, floors, windows, doors, and roofs of our building, to create a framework through
which building efficiency and sustainability can be reconsidered.
Vinzenz Aubry - Idea, Concept, and Programming
Simon Lesina-Debiasi - Concept, Design, and Construction
Selenay Kiray - Sound
This generative video installation engages viewers with a circle of animated digital eyes that respond to human presence. As participants approach, they encounter an unknown entity of digital avatars closely following their movement. A mediated face-to-face encounter with the unknown. Who is really watching whom?
In this generative video installation, viewers are presented with a digital interface which transforms into a meditation on observation and self-awareness. As participants approach, they encounter an unknown entity of digital avatars looking outwards. They carefully track their movements, creating an immediate and visceral sense of visual dialogue with the Other. Quite the opposite of surveillance, this is an invitation to explore the complex dynamics of seeing and being seen.
Simon Lesina-Debiasi - Concept, Design, and Construction
Selenay Kiray - Sound
This generative video installation engages viewers with a circle of animated digital eyes that respond to human presence. As participants approach, they encounter an unknown entity of digital avatars closely following their movement. A mediated face-to-face encounter with the unknown. Who is really watching whom?
In this generative video installation, viewers are presented with a digital interface which transforms into a meditation on observation and self-awareness. As participants approach, they encounter an unknown entity of digital avatars looking outwards. They carefully track their movements, creating an immediate and visceral sense of visual dialogue with the Other. Quite the opposite of surveillance, this is an invitation to explore the complex dynamics of seeing and being seen.
The MIT component of the mission was based out of Luna, a control space designed by MIT Department of Architecture students and faculty in collaboration with the MIT Space Exploration Initiative, Inploration, and Simpson Gumpertz and Heger. Luna is installed in the MIT Media Lab ground-floor gallery and opened to the public as part of Artfinity, MIT’s Festival for the Arts. The installation allows visitors to observe payload operators at work and interact with the software used for the mission, thanks to virtual reality.
DESIGN LEAD
Mateo Fernandez, MIT Architecture, MArch student; MIT MAD (Morningside Academy for Design), 2024 Design Fellow
STRUCTURAL LEAD
Nebyu Haile, MIT Architecture, Building Technology Program, PhD
FABRICATION LEAD
Simon Lesina Debiasi, MIT Architecture, SMArchS Computation program; Self-Assembly Lab, research assistant
PROJECT
Nof Nathansohn, Farida Moustafa, Arzy Abliadzhyieva, Nebyu Haile, Oliver Moldow, Jared Laucks
FACULTY
J. Roc Jih, MIT Architecture, associate professor of the practice in architectural design
John Ochsendorf, MIT Class of 1942 Professor with appointments in the departments of Architecture and Civil and Environmental Engineering; founding director of MAD
Skylar Tibbits, MIT Architecture, associate professor of design research; Self-Assembly Lab, founder and co-director; MIT MAD, assistant director for education
Cody Paige, MIT Media Lab, director of the Space Exploration Initiative
Brandon Clifford, MIT Department of Architecture
MIT To the Moon To Stay project team: Don Derek Haddad, Fangzheng Liu, Nathan Perry, Sean Auffinger, Media Lab Director and Apollo Professor Dava Newman, and Ariel Ekblaw
DESIGN LEAD
Mateo Fernandez, MIT Architecture, MArch student; MIT MAD (Morningside Academy for Design), 2024 Design Fellow
STRUCTURAL LEAD
Nebyu Haile, MIT Architecture, Building Technology Program, PhD
FABRICATION LEAD
Simon Lesina Debiasi, MIT Architecture, SMArchS Computation program; Self-Assembly Lab, research assistant
PROJECT
Nof Nathansohn, Farida Moustafa, Arzy Abliadzhyieva, Nebyu Haile, Oliver Moldow, Jared Laucks
FACULTY
J. Roc Jih, MIT Architecture, associate professor of the practice in architectural design
John Ochsendorf, MIT Class of 1942 Professor with appointments in the departments of Architecture and Civil and Environmental Engineering; founding director of MAD
Skylar Tibbits, MIT Architecture, associate professor of design research; Self-Assembly Lab, founder and co-director; MIT MAD, assistant director for education
Cody Paige, MIT Media Lab, director of the Space Exploration Initiative
Brandon Clifford, MIT Department of Architecture
MIT To the Moon To Stay project team: Don Derek Haddad, Fangzheng Liu, Nathan Perry, Sean Auffinger, Media Lab Director and Apollo Professor Dava Newman, and Ariel Ekblaw
