"AI has a significant impact on thinking and practice" says CSM's Alex Warnock-Smith

a photograph of a person in a brown shirt

Central Saint Martins is developing emotional and conceptual tools to navigate how students ethically approach artificial intelligence, says Alex Warnock-Smith, programme director of its Spatial Practices programme.

At Central Saint Martins (CSM), design education has opened up beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries with an increased focus on regenerative design, critical care and planetary wellbeing, according to Warnock-Smith.

With a growing interest in the potential of embodied AI and robotics in relation to regenerative construction, CSM students are navigating the use of AI confidently and ethically.

Dezeen School Shows: Designing the Future features interviews examining the challenges universities are facing and how they're adapting their courses.

Dezeen spoke to the programme director about bio-cultural practices, intersectional skills and the introduction of AI within design education.

a photograph of an exhibition — CSM recently displayed its end-of-year show

Ruby Betts: How has design education changed over the last ten years?

Alex Warnock-Smith: The climate and ecological emergency and the covid pandemic have been major factors influencing change in design education, as well as continual economic and political crises. Design education is opening up beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries and becoming less siloed, more trans and interdisciplinary – rather than simply multi-disciplinary.

This has meant working in a more relational and intersectional manner in response to the entangled issues of climate, decolonial practices, and social and racial justice. We've seen an amplification of the political in our students' work – to be more politically activist – as well as more engaged in questioning power and the political state.

'Critical care' has emerged as a core theme and concern of our educational practice. The pandemic has led us to question and consider who we are and how we relate to one another and our surroundings, as individuals, groups and communities of people.

Bio-cultural practices, learning from nature and interacting with it, are becoming more prominent, which intersects with an awareness of and interest in alternative ways of knowing and being, embodied practices and indigenous knowledge.

The epoch of the Anthropocene has resituated design education within a wider, ecological time scale and planetary context. Anticipation studies, futurism and planetary wellbeing are core areas of design thinking, which intersect closely with AI and the potential of new technologies.

an image of student architecture work — Students are producing work informed by climate and social issues. Project by Peerada Liewchanpata, BA Architecture

Ruby Betts: Is there a particular demand for a certain type of course?

Alex Warnock-Smith: Students, staff and academic practitioners are demanding more interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary forms of design education that cross traditional boundaries.

Regenerative design, critical care and planetary wellbeing are themes and concerns that intersect with all disciplines and demand the origination of new forms and methods of collaborative practice.

The global political, economic and social context also demands new forms of studentship that emphasise wellbeing and affordability. Anti-racism and social justice are at the core of our teaching and practice and enabling students to be caring, collaborative, self-sufficient and empathetic practitioners is our key aim.

Teaching skills in intersectional and relational thinking, politics and ethics are essential to embedding social justice, anti-racism and climate justice within their practice and within the future design industries.

Technical skills in bio-cultural design, natural systems, AI and advanced computation are essential hybrid skillsets that build upon the fundamental skills of drawing and making.

a painting in tones of beige, green, blue, pink and orange — There is an increased demand to explore transdisciplinary methods within design, says Warnock-Smith. Pictured: ‘Rest is a Picturesque Landscape’ by Scarlett Barclay, MArch

Ruby Betts: What impact have new technologies had on the courses you run?

Alex Warnock-Smith: AI has a significant impact on thinking and practice in all sectors. In Spatial Practices at CSM, we are responding to the challenges of AI positively and experimentally, working with it in collaboration with external industry and research partners, to explore the potential of AI to support advanced thinking and practice around the climate emergency and planetary futures.

Ruby Betts: What outcome have you seen from using AI?

Alex Warnock-Smith: A large part of this work has been developing frameworks and spaces of discussion and inquiry to support our students and staff with the skills and knowledge required to approach AI through their practice.

Developing the emotional and conceptual tools through which to navigate both the challenges and opportunities of the future is essential in order to be able to work with it confidently and ethically.

I can see a growing interest in some of our courses around the potential of embodied AI and robotics, which is very exciting in relation to our work on regenerative construction. We expect to see lots of innovation and change in this area, and are keen to ensure it is approached from an ethical perspective in relation to the politics and economics of construction industries and the built environment.

a photograph of people at an exhibition — "Enabling students to be caring, collaborative, self-sufficient and empathetic practitioners is our key aim," says Wanock-Smith

Ruby Betts: What type of projects are your students working on at the moment?

Alex Warnock-Smith: Architecture at Central Saint Martins is embedded in the Spatial Practices programme. The title 'Spatial Practices' implies a more open discourse within and about space.

The Spatial Practices Programme at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, includes four courses: BA Architecture (RIBA 1), M ARCH: Architecture (RIBA 2), MA Narrative Environments and MA Cities.

The courses represent a broad and diverse range of agendas and practices within and about space, which relate to our core themes and research areas of climate justice, planetary futures, creative cities and the radical potential of making.

Recent and current student projects experiment with a diverse range of subjects and challenges within these themes, including regenerative practices; bio-based materials; embodied practices; the forest; AI and storytelling; planetary sensing; cities and water infrastructure; retrofitting redundant structures for commoning; and many more.

Ruby Betts: Do you have any new courses that you have recently developed?

Alex Warnock-Smith: We recently launched a course called MA Cities, which creates city-making practices that foreground social and climate justice. The complex issues facing society today – climate and ecological emergency, challenges to democracy, economic crisis, to name a few – are produced by and experienced in cities and dense urban settlements across the globe. We wanted to bring the scale of cities and urban territories into our creative community and develop new skills for working at this scale.

We developed the course in collaboration with industry partners, practices and government bodies, who were calling for a new kind of multi-disciplinary course that develops new forms of city making through situated and creative practices that equip students with the practical and theoretical skills to successfully navigate the complex problems posed by urban environments.

Other new courses from across academic programmes at CSM include MA Regenerative Design, MA Biodesign and MA Communicating Complexity.

Ruby Betts: What advice can you give people who are thinking of studying design or architecture?

Alex Warnock-Smith: Be confident. Be positive. Don't accept traditional disciplinary boundaries and restrictions.

Think, work and create across ideas and disciplines – strive to imagine and create new futures. Always respect the human in you and in others. Don't lose sight of what it means to be a being on this planet, in relation to all other beings.

Be humble. Be aware of what you don't know. Be open to other forms of knowledge and other ways of being.