IDC003
Designing with Nature
Architecture, Innovation & Designing for Human Experience
Thursday, 10 September 2026
8:30 PM ACST (Adelaide)
Guest Convener
Professor Gini Lee
The University of Adelaide | Australia
Professor Gini Lee is a landscape architect, interior designer and internationally recognised academic whose work explores the intersection of landscape, culture and place. An Adjunct Professor at The University of Adelaide and RMIT University, and Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne, she advances regenerative, place-based design through research, curation and practice
Host
James Worth
Worth Design Co-Lab | Australia
James Worth is a landscape architect, urban designer and founder of Worth Design Co-Lab. Through the International Design Conversations, he brings together leading global voices across architecture, landscape architecture and sustainability to foster meaningful dialogue on the future of the built environment. His work focuses on living architecture, regenerative design, urban resilience and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Amrita Mahindroo
Director, DROO – Da Costa Mahindroo Architects
London, United Kingdom / Paris, France
12:00 pm BST
Amrita Mahindroo is an architect, urbanist and Director of DROO – Da Costa Mahindroo Architects. Her work bridges architecture, urbanism and research, exploring how emerging technologies, environmental change and social transformation influence cities and the human experience. She has taught and lectured internationally while leading award-winning projects across multiple continents.
Pedro Lira
Founder, Natureza Urbana
https://naturezaurbana.net/en/
São Paulo, Brazil
7:00 am BRT
Pedro Lira is a landscape architect and founder of Natureza Urbana. His practice focuses on urban ecology, biodiversity and nature-based solutions that reconnect cities with ecological systems. Through research, advocacy and design, he promotes greener, healthier and more resilient urban environments throughout Brazil and Latin America.
Arthur Mamou-Mani
Founder, Mamou-Mani Architects
London, United Kingdom
12:00 pm BST
Arthur Mamou-Mani is an award-winning architect recognised internationally for pioneering eco-parametric architecture, computational design and digital fabrication. Founder of Mamou-Mani Architects and Fab.Pub, his work combines biomaterials, advanced manufacturing and circular design principles to create innovative architecture that reconnects technology, nature and human experience.
Nimrod Weis
Founder & Creative Director, ENESS
Melbourne, Australia
9:00 pm AEST
Nimrod Weis is the founder and Creative Director of ENESS, an internationally acclaimed multidisciplinary art and design studio. His work combines architecture, public art, digital technology and immersive storytelling to create interactive experiences that inspire curiosity, participation and stronger connections between people, technology and place.
Sarah Meyer
Founder & Creative Director, MORAENE
Adelaide, Australia
8:30 pm ACST
Sarah Meyer is the founder of MORAENE, an architecture and design practice based in Adelaide. Her work integrates architecture, interiors and urban design through concept-driven, research-led design, with a strong emphasis on sustainability, culture, material innovation and creating places that respond thoughtfully to climate and community.
Ashkan Kiani
Co-Director, Betchouf
Landscape Architect & Design Researcher
Tehran, Iran
12:30 PM IRST
Ashkan Kiani is a landscape architect and design researcher exploring landscape theory, memory, multisensory design and human perception. His work investigates Persian gardens, smellscapes and spatial narratives, alongside emerging methods of AI-assisted visual analysis and storytelling to communicate complex landscape ideas and reveal new ways of experiencing place.
Faid Ahmad
Co-Director, Betchouf
Sydney, Australia
9:00 pm AEST
Faid Ahmad is a landscape architect, artist and academic, and Co-Director of Betchouf, a not-for-profit collective exploring diaspora, solidarity and land through design and cultural practice. A lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney, his work examines identity, community, care and landscape as frameworks for more inclusive and socially responsive futures.
Dana Marjan
Co-Director, Betchouf
Sydney, Australia
9:00 pm AEST
Dana Marjan is an architect, educator and researcher, and Co-Director of Betchouf, a not-for-profit collective exploring diaspora, solidarity and land through collaborative design and cultural practice. Her work brings together architecture, research and public engagement to examine belonging, identity and social justice, creating participatory design processes that strengthen communities and contribute to more inclusive, equitable and culturally responsive built environments.
ABSTRACT
IDC003
Designing with Nature
Architecture, Innovation & Designing for Human Experience
Architecture has always reflected the values of its time. Today, as our cities face accelerating environmental, social and technological change, designers are challenged to move beyond creating buildings that simply perform—they must create places that inspire, restore and deepen our relationship with the natural world.
IDC003 brings together an international panel of architects, designers, artists and innovators whose work explores the intersection of nature, digital technology, material innovation and human experience. From computational and parametric design to immersive public art, regenerative architecture and socially responsive practice, the conversation examines how creativity can shape healthier, more meaningful environments for people and communities.
Rather than viewing technology and nature as opposing forces, this discussion asks how they can work together to produce architecture that is adaptive, expressive and ecologically intelligent. The panel will explore emerging design tools, advances in digital fabrication, circular material systems, and the growing importance of cultural identity, participation and sensory experience in the design process. These themes reflect a broader shift toward design approaches that reconnect people with natural systems while embracing innovation as a driver of environmental and social resilience.
Featuring perspectives from Australia, the United Kingdom and Brazil, IDC003 offers a rich exchange of ideas from practices working across architecture, landscape, art, research and urban design. Together, the speakers will consider how the next generation of designers can create places that are technologically advanced, environmentally regenerative and deeply human.
As part of the International Design Conversations Knowledge Archive, this live discussion contributes to a growing global dialogue exploring the future of architecture, landscape architecture and design in an increasingly interconnected world.
