Research Summary

My research is directed towards experiments in Mixed Reality, through which I address and bridge current, vast gaps existing between design methodologies used in physical and digital space. The world is mixed and trans, and while our process and procedures are equally mixed, the outcomes of such processes seldom reflect this hybrid physical, digital state of spaces and objects. With Digital Puppetry and Twinning, I gear the design of digital spaces and objects towards immersive physicality.

Education

  • Bachelor of Architecture, School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Master of Arts in Fiction and Entertainment, Fiction and Entertainment, SCI-Arc (The Southern California Institute of Architecture)

Biography

Leah Wulfman is a Carrier Bag architect, educator, game designer, digital puppeteer, and occasional writer. Trained as an architect, Wulfman has been assembling hybrid virtual and physical spaces in order to prototype new relationships to technology and nature, as well as challenge normative ideologies so often reinforced by technology and architecture. In addition to mixed reality installations that play with and emphasize the physical, material basis of everything digital, they are presently working on a research series focusing on gamified environments, interactions and materials.
 
Wulfman holds a Bachelors of Architecture degree from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as a Masters of Arts in Liam Young's Fiction and Entertainment program at SCI-Arc. They have taught at numerous institutions in the United States, including ArtCenter's Media Design Practices Graduate Program, IDEAS Program at UCLA Architecture and Urban Design, SCI-Arc, The School of Architecture at Taliesin, and most recently University of Michigan's Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, where they have developed youth programming and mixed reality coursework. Wulfman's research and design work has been supported by numerous residencies and publications, and has been shown as part of various exhibitions and festivals, including the Buenos Aires Architecture Biennale, Tbilisi Architecture Biennial, The FiDi Arsenale, Space Saloon Design and Build Festival, Open Engagement, VIA Festival for Electronic Art and Music, A Queer Query, /imagine: A Journey into the New Virtual, and The Wrong Biennale for New Digital Art. Leah is now at the University of Utah's College of Architecture and Planning, where they are currently Visiting Assistant Professor in the Division of Multi-Disciplinary Design (MDD).