Andreea Ion CojoCaru is a licensed architect, software developer, and the co-founder & CEO of NUMENA, an award-winning German company. Andreea works at the intersection of architecture and immersive tech to develop projects and tools that explore new approaches to cognitive and spatial challenges.
Andreea was formally trained as an architect at MIT and Yale, where 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 Pederson Fox and Robert A.M. Stern in New York. She is the recipient of numerous fellowships and a frequent guest speaker at international events in the XR space.
Andreea Ion CojoCaru
April 3, 2023
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?
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
