Yufan Xie

■Architecture ■Computation ■Interactive Media ■Sound Synthesis

Born in China 1996, currently based in Los Angeles, I am a multi-disciplinary designer/artist practicing at the intersection of of architecture, computational design and electronic music, focusing on new relationship of body and environment in multi-sensory narratives. Empowered by innovative technologies of generative algorithms, 3d printing and spatial computing, I create multi-modal spatial systems under various technical frameworks. Several projects and research have proposed arguments over power and decision-making processes in real-time narratives, in which generative algorithms and interactive media are introduced as decisive methods for sensory patterns.

Since 2019, I have widely collaborated with sci-fi creators, musicians and colleague artists, the works have been featured at UABB (Shenzhen Bi-City Binnale), Shenzhen MoCAUP, A+D Museum LA, Shanghai Digital Futures(CDRF) and Tsinghua Design Future(ICDF). 

On the visual side, in early years, I was raised in an artist family, and started painting studies in high school. During undergraduate studies in CAFA, influeced by Japanese generative researchers and media artists, I started a series of cellular growth system experiments and studies over typical generative models since 2016, and applied them to parametric design and architectural projects. I was fascinated by the geometric possibilities in generative systems, audio-visual performances and architectural design. In 2019, in collaboration with science fiction writers, we explored the idea of  symbiotic systems of human and nature in The Unknown Cities(Shenzhen UABB 2019).  Since 2021, Yufan has been working as a computational designer and Unreal Engine developer in Refik Anadol Studio, widely collaborating with data scientists, neuro-scientists and game developers, on topics of AIGC, generative art, 3D-printing, data visualization and interactive design.

On the acoustic side, since 2017, I’ve been producing soundtracks for artworks and creating electronic music in sub-genres like ambient, Jungle, and Footwork. Until 2022, tracks are partially released online. Meanwhile in questioning and exploring the relationship between architecture, visual art, and acoustic storytelling, I realized the pre-dominant ocularcentric culture in the field of architecture and visual arts. As a response, since 2019, I have been exploring how space can be translated as multi-sensory experiences and function with human perceptions in real-time, and allowing people to creatively participate narratives by defining space as “audible space” instead of “visible space“. In my bachelor thesis GAP+ (2019), the idea of de-visualized space and gesture-based sound museum was proposed. Later in my master thesis Acoustic Garden(2021), the idea was further explored as sonifying real-scale body movements in physical space with augmented reality and HRTF spatial audio. 

Currently, based on all previous researches, I’m developing my own multi-modal control system and interface. Several accessibility research and audience-participated experiences are in progress. 

For professional consulting services(data visualization, geometry optimization, rendering, generative design, sound scoring in Rhino/Grasshopper, Unreal Engine, C#, MAX/MSP, Ableton Live and etc) please contact [email protected]

Contact: [email protected]