Andreea Ion is a toolmaker that works at the intersection of design, cognition and immersive technologies. She is a licensed architect, software developer, and the co-founder & CEO of NUMENA, an award-winning German company. Formally trained as an architect at MIT and Yale University, she was awarded the AIA Gold Medal for best graduating master student by the American Institute of Architects. Prior to NUMENA, she gained design and project management experience in architecture practices such as Kohn Pedersen Fox and Robert A.M. Stern in New York.
Andreea believes that by expanding the possibilities and affordances of spatial experience, we are expanding and redefining identity, subjectivity and modes of collective being. She is the recipient of numerous fellowships and a frequent guest speaker at international events in the XR space including SXSW, the Architectural Association in London, the UW Reality Lab, Cornell Tech, and several episodes of the Voices of VR podcast.
Andreea Ion
July 12, 2024
What is spatial thinking? (reality and other stories), DigitalFUTURES Workshop “Agency Across Realities”, Lecture #1
Conceptual thought is about anchoring your thinking deep enough so that you, and your work, don’t sway in the wind of passing trends. This lecture is divided into POSITION and MECHANISM, and it dives into some of my foundational assumptions about the nature of human experience in relationship to natural and synthetic realities.
June 06, 2024
Truth vs fiction in museum games, Museum XR Summit 2024, invited lecture
The stories we create to make sense of historical data available in museums involve contemporary cultural biases and inferences that fill in the gaps. This talk outlines a series of strategies for developing narrative gaming experiences that communicate facts while also engaging the imagination.
May 22, 2024
Darkness, spatial audio and architectural design in VR, Dr. VR Podcast, Episode #21
I sat down with Justin Baillargeon to unpack our obsession with environments you can navigate in total darkness, with experiences you could never have in other mediums, and how we’re trying to bring it all together in the game we’re working on.
March 11, 2024
Imagine Harder: Prototyping Impossible Futures, Andreea’s intro, SXSW 2024, Austin, TX
How does an architect combine design with software development, and why? An introduction to my work and NUMENA, our creative studio. Excerpt from a panel discussion at SXSW 2024.
March 11, 2024
Imagine Harder: Prototyping Impossible Futures, with co-panelists Julian Bleecker and Avi Bar-Zeev, SXSW 2024, Austin, TX
A hands-on deep dive into new imagination infrastructures to tackle the hardest design challenges. Visit lessons learned from prototyping new products like the Hololens, Apple Vision Pro, new urban communities, and artifacts from the future.
December 5, 2023
A presentation of kinesthetic audio interaction, a form of spatial interaction we have developed at NUMENA for our virtual reality game The Third Pill.
April 3, 2023
Defining Process-Relational Architecture with Andreea Ion Cojocaru: Spatial Design as a Participatory Improv Performance, Voices of VR, Episode #1200
In this conversation, Kent Bye and I coin the term “process-relational architecture” to describe the interactive, dynamic, improvisational and performative design process that can be used to design inside virtual reality.
March 21, 2023
Placemaking Across Realities: Spectra Cities, Cornell Tech
Together with Ryan Rzepecki, I present our vision for Spectra Cities, an open-source city, and collaborative design using spatial technologies. Part of Placemaking Across Realities at Cornell Tech, MCed by Urban Tech Fellow Greg Lindsay.
March 14, 2023
From Words to Worlds: New Social Generations (audio only), SXSW Panel
When humans interact with each other, how do different spaces, contexts, and environmental stimuli influence our behavior? We cannot function without a connection to what’s around us, so what does that mean when what’s around us is increasingly digital? With Alex Coulombe, Jessica Outlaw and Caroline Running Wolf.
December 2, 2022
MIDIS ARCHI: Andreea Ion Cojocaru, HEAD Geneva guest lecture
Guest lecture at HEAD, the school of art and design in Geneva, on the importance and promise of immersive tech beyond simulation.
May 13, 2022
Future of Text Guest Speaker: Andreea Ion Cojocaru, The Future of Text
How will thoughts change because I’ve just spent half a day embodying an octopus? How can we shape virtual worlds around problems and shared significance?
January 8, 2022
‘Top 10 Crazy Things I Said about VR and Architecture in 2021
When working with new tech you need to set aside some time to speculate about the future. Here are the most out there things I said in 2021 in my attempt to frame, though the lens of virtual reality, what a different future might be about.
December 6, 2021
‘Designing the Designer’ with Andreea Ion Cojocaru, TRXL Podcast 065.
VR creative tools can change architecture. But in this episode, I explore the deeper implications: tools this powerful don’t just change the process & the outcome, they also change the designer. They have the power to (cognitively) design the designer.
November 11, 2021
The Future of Architecture: Design and Code Across Realities, AEC Magazine, NXT BLD Conference, London.
The talk is about ways of seeing the world that have reached their expiration date & about new approaches with huge potential for disruption, like spatial tech and the VR design tool we are developing at NUMENA.
September 12, 2021
Designing in VR and App Development with Andreea Ion Cojocaru, podcast episode, Engineering ArchiTECHure.
I sat down with Mayur Mistry to talk about the VR tool we’ve been developing at NUMENA and the type of workflows we are experimenting with.
July 19, 2021
VR Design Exposed. Guest podcast episode, Eric for President.
Designing virtual bodies and their locomotion technique should go hand in hand with designing immersive environment + some thoughts on the kind of creatures we are in VR.
May 28, 2021
Where Are You, Who Are You? The Thinning Thickness of The Real, UW Reality Lab, University of Washington.
There are things I feel, think & do in VR that are qualitatively different than anything I’ve ever experienced in physical reality in a major way. Here’s a take on why & where it’s all going.
May 8, 2021
Andreea Ion Cojocaru On Why The Architecture Of Virtual Spaces Matters, UploadVR.
Why virtual architecture matters, how it differs from physical space, why it should have a dynamic relationship with users & more.
February 20, 2021
Who am I? I am the space. A journey with Andreea Ion Cojocaru, Singularity Watch, S01 Episode #10.
A conversation about virtual architecture as well as identity, boundaries and forms of embodiment in immersive environments.
December 14, 2020
VR Architecture & Tools For Thought with Andreea Ion Cojocaru, Mind Meld Podcast with Josh Gonsalvez, Episode #28.
One of the most in depth talks I’ve had about the XR industry & what I’m trying to achieve in it as an architect..
October 10, 2020
Between Realities ft. Andreea Ion Cojocaru, Between Realities, Episode #15, Season 2.
I talk for the first time about the VR game we’re working on & why I believe VR will change what real buildings & cities look like.
May 2, 2020
Half Life Alyx’s Immersive Architecture & Experiential Design, with Kent Bye and Fredrik Hellberg.
The one thing you MUST watch. This was an epic conversation about the principles & potential of virtual architecture.
April 24, 2020
RTC 2020 Extended Intro – Alex Coulombe & Andreea Ion Cojocaru Talk Virtual Architecture, Realtime Conference PREVIEW.
Why, as architects, we love to explore space making beyond gravity & why our virtual environments have at least two suns.
March 27, 2020
Transcending Reality w/ Andreea Ion Cojocaru, Between Realities, Episode #7.
This conversation is a trip down the rabbit hole of VR and philosophy. Buckle up.
August 26, 2019
Cultivating Architectural Design Intuition with VR & Hacking the Boundaries of Perception, Voices of VR Podcast, Episode #803.
Part I is about the relationship b/w physical & virtual space. Part II is a rare dive into my VR brain hack experiments.
March 1, 2019
The Thinning Thickness of the World, A Phenomenological Account, Architecture of the Immersive Internet Symposium, Architectural Association, London.
A theoretical framework for VR based on classical phenomenology (Merleau-Ponty & Husserl). Starts at 00:50.
December 7, 2018
The Phenomenology of Architecture & How VR is Revolutionizing Spatial Design Intuition, Voices of VR Podcast, Episode #719.
How the design of a space can influence your perception of time & why where you are = who you are. “This convo blew my mind.” Kent Bye
