Events are an integral part of the master programs: from workshops with guests professors to lectures series with relevant practitioners.
Wed, Apr 29, 2026
Masters’ Talks
7.30 pm — Event at DHub
Open to the public
India Mahdavi
Typologies of Intuition, a conversation with Omar Sosa
Typologies of Intuition, a conversation with Omar Sosa
India Mahdavi presents a conversation exploring a practice shaped by an attentive reading of place and experience. From the vernacular minimalism of Siwa to her reinterpretation of Villa Medici, her work reflects an ongoing dialogue between past and present, where each project emerges from its context. Intuition guides this process as a flexible, human way of thinking beyond fixed rules. In Paris, this approach extends into an ecosystem of spaces that brings the studio into the street, fostering exchange, accessibility, and new forms of engagement with a wider creative community.
India Mahdavi
Color defines her work. Ornament is her language. Form is her grammar.
India Mahdavi creates environments that live, breathe, and delight —spaces in constant metamorphosis, shaped by light, mood, and memory. Based in Paris, and of Iranian and Egyptian heritage, raised across continents, she embodies a polyglot and polychrome sensibility: a synthesis of cultures and histories distilled into spaces, objects, and experiences that leave a lasting impression on the senses. Her practice spans interiors, furniture, scenography, and exhibitions, combining rigor and joy. From the Bishop stool to Sketch in London and Bar Nina in Milan, each project engages with its context and culture.
© Laura Friedli
Studio India Mahdavi is a Paris-based multidisciplinary practice working across interiors, furniture, exhibitions, and scenography. Small, nimble, and collaborative, the studio brings together architects, designers, and artisans in constant dialogue. Its ecosystem —showrooms, Project Room, and Petits Objets— acts as a laboratory for ideas and experimentation. Each project engages with its context, culture, and moment, developing environments that are sensorial, expressive, and alive. Through collaborations with leading makers, the studio extends its vision across disciplines, creating spaces and objects that spark joy and shared experience.
Wed, May 27, 2026
Masters’ Talks
7.30 pm — Event at DHub
Open to the public
Jonas Janke, b+
Love me one time, two times … x times !
Love me one time, two times … x times !
The lecture is not a conventional showcase of selected projects from our daily practice, but rather aims to provide a broader insight into the network of actors in which b+ (bplus.xyz) operates, how we understand the contemporary way of an architectural practice and scope of work of an architect, and how we approach our projects—in short: who b+ is and how we work, what our values are, and what our understanding of our duties and responsibilities as architects is.
Jonas Janke (DE, 1991) is an architect and partner at bplus.xyz (Berlin). He has a diverse background in architecture, was trained as an architectural draughtsman before pursuing his studies in Hamburg, Stockholm, and Berlin. He gained valuable experience as a tutor and assistant in various departments including design & typologies, building construction, and structural design. He was part of the team 2038, the German Pavilion at 17th Venice Architecture Biennale 2021.
His early teaching experiences include guest studios at the University of Innsbruck (Austria) and Politecnico di Milano (Italy). He is regularly invited to give lectures and guest critiques at universities, cultural institutions, and public institutions. His focus is on new ecological construction materials and methods for adaptive reuse and renovation projects, seeking pragmatic and efficient technical and mechanical solutions that use material and construction thoughtfully.
bplus.xyz (b+) is a collaborative architecture practice (led by Arno Brandlhuber, Olaf Grawert, Jonas Janke and Roberta Jurčić) that operates at the intersection of theory and practice, using different media and formats. The practice seeks to engage with the contemporary challenges of our time, particularly those related to the social-ecological transformation of existing buildings, offering economically viable solutions.
b+ understands architecture as an open process, and views buildings as part of larger systems that require a systemic approach. The practice sees the given framework of existing buildings and legislation as an active design tool with the potential for transformation. Thus, b+ celebrates the potential of the existing built environment and aims to reveal and activate the latent potentials within.
b+ emphasizes working with different actors and stakeholders in project development. The practice values their knowledge and expertise and aims to create spaces for exchange and collaboration. b+ seeks to advance a new value system in architecture, one that places greater emphasis on collective responsibility, systemic thinking, and ecologically and economically viable solutions.
The current project in the field of political activism is the European citizens’ initiative HouseEurope! – HouseEurope! wants to create incentives that make renovation the new norm. This will boost the renovation market and give new value to what is already there. The goal is to preserve homes and communities, ensure a fairer and more local building industry, save energy and resources, and preserve our memories and stories.
May 25 — 29, 2026
Conference
Geneva, Switzerland
AI for Good
Global Summit 2026
Recommended external event for MHUAI students
AI for Good Global Summit 2026 is the leading United Nations global event focused on using artificial intelligence to address major global challenges. Over five days, experts from technology, design, science, public policy and international organisations come together to explore how AI can contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. The event combines conferences, technology showcases, workshops and multidisciplinary collaboration spaces.
AI for Good is a United Nations initiative led by ITU that promotes the responsible use of artificial intelligence to generate positive social impact. Through summits, projects and collaborative platforms, it connects governments, companies, researchers and designers to develop technological solutions aligned with current and future social, environmental and humanitarian challenges.
May 2026
Workshop
Garden of Light, Movement & Sound, Stephanie Rodriguez
Only for MHUAI students
Garden of Light, Movement & Sound is an intensive workshop where students explore collaboration between humans, artificial intelligence and physical systems. Over four days, participants design and build reactive plants that respond to human presence through light, sound and movement. The workshop combines creativity, technology and hands-on experimentation, culminating in a collective installation that embodies the idea of human machine co creation.
The workshop offers a collaborative learning environment focused on creative experimentation with artificial intelligence and basic electronics. Participants work in small groups to design an interactive object using Arduino, sensors and AI tools as creative support. The process prioritises exploration, hands-on learning and the collective construction of a shared interactive installation.
Stephanie Rodriguez is a professional working at the intersection of technology and human experience. With a background in mechatronics engineering and intelligent interactive systems, she specialises in artificial intelligence, programming, data science and human robot interaction. Her work focuses on the ethical and human centred use of technology in creative and educational contexts.
past events
Wednesday,
March 22, 2023
7.30 pm
Jesper Kouthoofd, Teenage Engineering
Masters’ Talks
Work and life at Teenage Engineering
Event at COA, Plaça Nova 5
Book your seat (soon)
teenage engineering is developing the alternative future of consumer electronics, each invention designed to last. from reimagining music-making with the iconic OP-1 portable synthesizer and growing the synth population with the affordable pocket operator series, to rethinking listening with the OD-11 ortho directional speaker and the OB–4 magic radio, they have applied their signature mindset to a new legacy of enduring technologies.
Their creations have attracted collaborations with well-known artists and brands, sharing in their vision to integrate creativity into the everyday. teenage engineering was founded in 2007 and is based in Stockholm, Sweden.
Jesper Kouthoofd is head of design, founder & CEO of teenage engineering. His work has been recognised in magazines such as New York Times, Vanity Fair, GQ, Vogue, Wall Street Journal, Wallpaper, Wired, Popular Mechanics, G3 and many more across the globe. Together with his 40 engineers at teenage engineering he has launched products such as the already legendary synthesizer OP-1, pocket operators and reengineered the classic OD-11 (by Stig Carlsson). He believes in making products for everyone, no matter where you live or what language you speak.
Wednesday
February 22, 2023
7.30 pm
Amical Dall, Assemble
Masters’ Talks
The Work of Repair
Event at COA, Plaça Nova 5
Book your seat (soon)
The Work of Repair
Amica will reflect on how architectural and creative practices can orientate themselves away from invention and innovation towards the patient and slow work of repair, and consider work that is based on making long-term, personal or ethical commitments to sites, situations, and social contexts. She will cover some of Assemble’s early work, before discussing a set of projects that reorientated her and the studio’s attitudes towards the city and the rural, material ethics and intergenerational justice.
Amica Dall is an inter-disciplinary practitioner focused on architecture and city culture and children’s right to the city. She is a founding member of Assemble, where she delivered more than 15 major projects over ten years. Her work as a writer and filmmaker has been broadcast on the BBC, exhibited at the Venice Biennale, and published in E-Flux. She recently co-wrote a book on post-carbon future for architecture with architecture practice, Material Cultures. Amica has taught across a wide range of subjects and works with both children and post-graduates.
Assemble is a multi-disciplinary collective working across architecture, design and art. Founded in 2010 to undertake a single self-built project, Assemble has since delivered a diverse and award-winning body of work, whilst retaining a democratic and co-operative working method that enables built, social and research-based work at a variety of scales, both making things and making things happen. Turner Prize in 2016, and nominated in 2022 to the Royal Academy in recognition of their collective contribution to the culture of city making.
Wednesday,
January 25, 2023
7.30 pm
Luna Maurer, Moniker
Masters’ Talks
Rewind and fastforward
Rewind and fastforward
Luna Maurer will elaborate on Moniker’s relation with technology in the past 20 years and its impact on their practice. Moniker is currently developing a new outlook and perspective on technology, sparked by recent rapid developments in the field. The web changed from an emancipating democratizing network into an infrastructure for big capital, the screen from a desktop publishing interface to a fundamental extension of our identity. Luna will share their latest experiments.
Luna Maurer is an interaction and media design artist. Originally from Stuttgart (Germany), she completed her studies at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam.
With Roel Wouters she heads the Amsterdam based studio Moniker. Moniker is well known for authoring the Conditional Design Manifesto (together with Edo Paulus and Jonathan Puckey). Luna Maurer has been teaching media courses at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, the Sandberg Institute, Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, HfG Karlsruhe and at Yale University School of Art.
Moniker explores the characteristics of technology and its influence on our daily lives. They have designed many participatory projects (online and offline), as well as other web projects, films and performances. Their clients range from cultural institutions like Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam and Fondation Beyeler, Basel to more technology oriented clients like the Mozilla Foundation, Unity 3D and Google.
Moniker has won many awards, including a British Music Video Award, a Webby, several Dutch Design Awards and the Amsterdam Prijs voor de Kunst.
Wednesday
November 30, 2022
7.30 pm
Viviane Stappmanns, Vitra Design Museum
Masters’ Talks
Curating for the Common Good
To curate means to care. Literally. In the case of design, these objects – and the exhibitions they are featured in – talk about the human drive for progress, about creative leadership, about material economies and technological innovations. But what does it mean to curate within the field of design in the 21st century? How can exhibitions and books make a contribution to fostering more just, socially and ecologically sustainable societies? In her lecture, she will provide insights into the hands-on practice of curating, and into the broader issues that may inform how we present, discuss and practice design in the future.
Viviane Stappmanns is a curator at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein. She is interested in exploring the contribution curators can make to rethinking design as a practice concerned with ecological and social sustainability. In her exhibition and teaching work, she experiments with new, collaborative approaches to curating and exhibiting. She has taught at different schools and universities, among them the School of Architecture and Urban Design at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia and, most recently the University of Arts and Design in Karlsruhe.
Prior to working at the Vitra Design Museum, Viviane has worked as an editor and curator within architecture and design contexts in Australia and Germany, and holds degrees in Interior Design and Journalism.
The exhibition “Here We Are! Women in Design 1900 – Today!” (2021) will open at the Barcelona Design Museum in October 2023. Currently, she is working on the international travelling exhibition “Garden Futures”, due to open at the Vitra Design Museum in Spring 2023.
1 & 2 — Exhibition «Typology. An ongoing study of everyday items», 2020 / 3 — Exhibition «Beyond the Surface», 2018 / 4 — Installation of the exhibition «Better Nature», 2019 / 5 & 6 — Exhibition «Here We Are! Women in Design», 2021 / 7 — Preparing the exhibition « Here We Are! Women in Design », 2021
March 8 → 12, 2021
Irene Pereyra, Anton & Irene
Masters’ Interdisciplinary Workshops
Barcelona 2.0
Open to all Master students
Barcelona 2.0
The aim of this workshop is to come up with a way that could improve Barcelona public life.
Each team will choose an existing item or service to improve—like for example trash collection, the metro, bicing, etc.
At the end of the week, each team will present their “upgraded Barcelona 2.0” idea. The final solution can be as realistic or fantastical as you would like it to be and can be presented and explained in the material or software of your choosing.
We will be getting to the solution by going through a variety of creative thinking exercises that will encourage participants to let their imaginations run wild by dreaming up the most unattainable, extreme, and impractical solutions you can think of in order to come up with a final solution. The goal of the workshop is to dig deep into how we come up with creative solutions, and understand the tools and processes available that are proven to tap into our creativity so you can apply these techniques to solve any kind of design problem you might encounter in the future.
Irene Pereyra
Co-founder of the Brooklyn based design studio “Anton & Irene”. She has led the strategy and UX initiatives for relevant clients for both the web and cross-platform applications. Her work has been recognized by numerous awards.
Irene has been a guest speaker at numerous conferences such as OFFF and FITC, and has lectured at SVA in New York, Hyper Island in Stockholm, Harbour.Space in Barcelona, and the Design Academy in Eindhoven. Her personal projects have been shown around the world.
March 8 → 12, 2021
Martí Guixé, Seeds
Masters’ Interdisciplinary Workshops
Seeds
Seeds
The aim of the workshop is to develop strategies, objects or actions around the seed element and in relation to issues such as reforestation, gardening, conservation, politics and food.
To understand how design can be with nature and not only against nature.
Martí Guixé comes from the background of every good designer, with an academic curriculum to his credit and work done with famous firms. But as revolutionaries today are born within the institutions that trained them, he revolutionizes design by working on living matter, that can be transformed and decomposed, hybridizing such areas as anthropology, humour, gastronomy, typography, the human sciences, exact sciences, performance, design.
He analyses situations, behaviour and gestures and proposes radically effective solutions with minimal ergonomics, liberated from the image of an idealized body where technocratic perspective tried to create the right form. As a visionary he transforms things with his eyes that observe them and invents the indispensable commodities of the twenty-first century.
