Yangzi Sun

Yangzi (she/her)—who goes by Sun, reflecting her given name "child of the sun"—is a computational design researcher, multidisciplinary artist, and dancer. She works at the intersection of embodied computation, human-machine interaction, and design epistemology.

Sun served as a lead researcher at the McGill Computational Design Exploratory (CoDEx). Her work there centered on engineering computational reenactments of historical algorithms—including 1960s space allocation optimizers and Christopher Alexander's HIDECS—translating them into discursive artifacts through modern software and physical computing interfaces. Bridging her architectural research with the movement arts, she founded a stealth research venture backed by the McGill Engine Incubator. Preparing for its launch, she is developing a generative interface that translates continuous human movement into a discrete digital ontology, ultimately aiming to use computation as a means to leverage movement mastery and democratize choreography creation.

In addition to her academic work, Sun has an extensive background across the fine arts, including painting and classical violin. In recent years, she has focused deeply on the performing arts, performing as a classical ballet soloist and principal dancer across diverse classical repertoires.

Her intellectual and artistic journey cultivates in her a fascination with the isomorphism between systems—currently the mapping between somatic intuition-expression and computational syntax. She is fundamentally interested in designing the design process, seeking to form this curious "strange loop" where the designer, the design system, and the designed object recursively inform each other. Through this loop, she asks an ongoing question: how do we foster the emergence of whimsical, polysemic systems of embodied computation that serve as an augmented intelligence, a net to capture human phenomena and procedural serendipity? 

Projects coming soon...