Reimagining Creativity - From Human Intuition to Machine Intelligence

You are cordially invited to attend the roundtable discussion of Reimagining Creativity – From Human Intuition to Machine Intelligence on:

Date: 23 January 2025

Time: 6:00 PM  –  8:00 PM

Venue: SDE 3 Level 1 Architecture Gallery, Department of Architecture

Speakers: Bas Princen, Donn Koh, Jo Ho, Immanuel Koh, Karyn Lim

Conventional ideas of authenticity, authorship, and creativity are constantly being challenged by technological advancements. Today, generative AI echoes this transformation, pushing boundaries across disciplines, and raising questions about the evolving norms of human intuition, originality, and the role of designers and artists in the creative process.

In this rapidly transforming landscape, how can creative practitioners move beyond superficial uses of AI to fully integrate its potential? What lies ahead moving beyond image generation in ‘artificial’ designs? What does it mean to negotiate between human creativity and machine intelligence, and how can designers navigate the opportunities and disruptions posed by these tools?

The roundtable  brings together leading voices from a variety of design fields, including photography, industrial design, fashion, digital art, architecture, and landscape architecture, to critically examine the impact of generative AI from multiple viewpoints of the design profession. Featuring Bas Princen, Donn Koh, Jo Ho, Immanuel Koh, and Karyn Lim, and moderated by Frederick Chando Kim and Dorothy Tang, the discussion will explore the role of AI in creative practice, not only the opportunities it offers but also what challenges and consequences it poses.

Bas Princen explores the image itself through photography, focusing on how photographs influence and define ways in which space and landscape are perceived, represented and reproduced. He works with a range of printing techniques in different artistic formats including books, exhibitions and large scale in situ installations. Educated originally as a designer for public space at the Design Academy Eindhoven and as an architect at the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam, Princen has worked as an artist and photographer since 1998. Princen received the Charlotte Kohler Prize in 2004 and the Silver Lion at the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale for his collaboration with Office KGDVS. His notable exhibitions include the Barbican Art Gallery, Venice Architecture Biennale, and Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York. He has published several books, including Artificial Arcadia and Reservoir.

Donn Koh is a Senior Lecturer at the Division of Industrial Design, National University of Singapore. He fascinated by the subtleties of human behaviour and psychology, imbuing his design with a sensitivity towards the inner whispers that go on when a person interacts with physical and virtual forms. Combined with a keen sense of aesthetics, problem-solving and a strong mechanical aptitude, his work distills complex problems into smart, simple solutions that resonate with human habits and emotions. Through independent practice and his previous employment at GRO design (Netherlands) and One & Co. (San Francisco), his work experience spans across the brands of BMW DesignworksUSA, Dell, Google, HTC, L’Oreal, Microsoft, Nokia, Philips, Sennheiser and TomTom. He created the bend-and-snap mechanism of the Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse, was the lead industrial designer of the Air+ Smart Mask and the HTC Evo 4G. Donn is the co-founder of the acclaimed STUCK Design. As a distinguished practitioner with the ability to teach, Donn wins numerous teaching awards alongside his design awards. His twin passions are to create imaginative solutions and to help designers become extraordinarily creative and effective.

Jo Ho is a media artist exploring the changing perceptions, imaginations, and values of real and virtual spaces as software, hardware, digital, and corporeal become increasingly intertwined. She has exhibited large-scale installations, interactive programs, and live performances at museums and galleries in Singapore and abroad. Jo Ho teaches creative coding at the University of the Arts Singapore and Nanyang Technological University and has a background in Architecture (B.Arch) and a Master’s degree in New Media Design.

Immanuel Koh is an Assistant Professor in Design & Artificial Intelligence (DAI) and Architecture & Sustainable Design (ASD) at the Singapore University of Technology & Design (SUTD) where he directs Artificial-Architecture. He studied at the AA in London before obtaining his PhD from École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. He is an international  pioneer in AI x Architecture and a Principal Investigator for several AI research projects, such as those supported by AI Singapore, MND, MINDEF, DesignSingapore, Zaha Hadid Architects and MVRDV. Immanuel is the co-curator for the Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 and conference chair of CAADRIA 2024. His work has been featured at premium AI conferences, architecture awards and art exhibitions.

Karyn Lim is a designer, and Design Thinking Instructor at the Division of Industrial Design, NUS. Experimenting across a variety of materials, she creates in collaboration with brands and craftspeople, and has launched products ranging from objects, furniture, clothing, and accessories. Her work has been showcased on international platforms including Designart Tokyo UNDER30, SaloneSatellite at the Salone del Mobile Milano, Singaplural, and EMERGE@FIND Design Fair Asia. Her conceptual work using Generative AI was featured on the cover of Tatler Homes Singapore.