Abstract
The discussion of the “future” in architecture is one that has been heard frequently in the era of modernism. MIT Professor and Principal of KVA MATx, Sheila Kennedy elaborates on the present and the future, and the role of the architect in linking the specific needs of the present and the imaginative realities of the future. Kennedy is committed to the idea of agency at KVA MATx and conducts research with application in mind. She believes in research as action to address the needs of the present, as opposed to academic research with an inevitable orientation to the future.
With regards to materials, a strong interest in materiality due to digital processes has developed despite a lack of visceral understanding of materials, in terms of origination, history, and potential use. This issue is a problem of translation in architecture’s engagement with the material world. To combat this contemporary problem, Kennedy suggests a continuum of research efforts between core disciplinary research and applied research. This would allow architects to carefully analyze problems of the present without compromising visions of creative and alternative futures.
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