{"id":2524,"date":"2026-01-06T09:08:57","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T09:08:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/?p=2524"},"modified":"2026-03-06T09:47:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T09:47:07","slug":"arc-606-st-remote-cultural-technologies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/2026\/01\/06\/arc-606-st-remote-cultural-technologies\/","title":{"rendered":"ARC 606 ST: Remote Cultural Technologies"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Instructor: Nick Bruscia<\/em>
ARC 606<\/em>
Spring 2022<\/em><\/p>

DESCRIPTION:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>

This graduate research studio in Situated Technologies will investigate the relationship between culture and technology within the context of the rural village of Hida, Japan. While there is no substitute for travel, the studio will introduce mixed-reality technologies in a more first-person, albeit remote, educational and collaborative experience of a segment of Japan\u2019s history, culture, and building craft. We\u2019ll partner with Hidakuma\/FabCafe Hida to directly engage with both the local history and industrial innovations known to the region, particularly the local expertise of traditional timber joinery, the unique wood compression technologies that have been developed to address the overabundance of post-war timber, and the LiDAR scanning and augmented fabrication techniques of naturally curved bentwood that occurs as smaller diameter trees grow along the mountain side and under heavy snow loads.<\/p>

Extended Reality (XR) is an umbrella term incorporating virtual, augmented, and mixed-reality technologies. The use of XR in architecture and construction is rapidly gaining momentum in both academic and professional settings. The studio aims to expand the role of digital design techniques in architectural education by proposing that XR platforms are an extension of digital modeling proficiency and design thinking. Digital technologies have significantly reshaped the AEC industry, and XR presents a new educational paradigm as this area of expertise becomes more widespread and in demand. By engaging with this historically significant context, the studio proposes a reconsideration of what is meant by \u201csituated\u201d technologies. Anthropological theory enables a definition of culture as a set of communicative acts, and technology as consisting of not only the machines, devices, software, etc – but the relationships between instruments, people, and fields of knowledge. This will help frame our research and the intention of our work, as well as our recognition that informal technological knowledge has distinct epistemological characteristics.<\/p>

While the studio will introduce a computationally driven design build methodology, our proposals will not be mere objects, but processes by which we can use digital technology to foster local engagement \u2013 a flexible framework that may help guide a new but culturally situated, community-driven project that virtually connects design and production between two locations on opposite sides of the world.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tARC 619: Architectural Geometry and Construction\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t
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Instructor: Nick Bruscia | Type: Seminar
\nThis technical seminar introduces computational modeling and simulation in architecture, focusing on geometric principles and digital workflows that connect form-finding, material behavior, and fabrication through algorithmic modeling and physics-based simulation tools.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tARC 404: Digitizing and Designing Toward Spolia\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t
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Instructor: Nick Bruscia | Type: Studio
\nThis studio explores the design and construction of dry-stacked masonry systems using recycled architectural stone, combining digital scanning, computational modeling, and mixed-reality tools to translate irregular salvaged materials into structurally legible assemblies.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tARC 606: Mediating and Remediating Gowanus\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t
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Instructor: Mark Shepard | Type: Studio
\nThis graduate design research studio investigates green infrastructure and environmental sensing systems for multispecies urban environments, focusing on ecological restoration and responsive landscape interventions along Brooklyn\u2019s Gowanus Canal.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Instructor: Nick Bruscia | Type: Studio
\nThis graduate research studio investigates the relationship between culture and technology through a remote collaboration with the rural village of Hida, Japan, exploring mixed-reality tools, traditional timber craft, and digitally mediated design-build processes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":639,"featured_media":2525,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/639"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2524"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2548,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524\/revisions\/2548"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}