Keynote Speakers

Our dynamic keynote speakers will share their unique perspectives on the potential impact of AI on Lean design, based on their exceptional backgrounds and design experience. Join us to learn more at their exciting keynote addresses this spring!

Special Program Instructor, Harvard Extension School, Architect, Writer, Podcast Host, and Post-disaster Expert

Eric has a varied background including roles as an architect, construction manager, professor, podcast host, writer, disaster responder, humanitarian, and more. He’s led on-the-ground reconstruction programs after the Haiti earthquake, the Great East Japan Tsunami, and Superstorm Sandy. His formal training is in architecture, with international development, economics, and design futurism among his areas of expertise.

He has been called “Architecture’s First Responder” by The Daily Beast for his work leading Architecture for Humanity’s post-disaster programs from 2010 to 2014. Eric has taught and guest-taught on issues of disaster reconstruction, resilience, and sustainable design at several of the world’s leading design schools, including the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Universite Grenoble Aples, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Washington University in St. Louis, and UC Berkeley. Most recently, he has taught in the Harvard Global Development Practice program on community-based responses to disaster.

Eric is the author of “Down Detour Road, An Architect in Search of Practice” and is working on several new writing projects at the intersection of design, climate change, and artificial intelligence.

Eric plans to speak about how architecture and design evolve in a larger context. He notes that “when we architects get together to talk about AI, we talk about what we are going to do with it, as if the rest of the world doesn’t exist. My work focuses more on how AI will shape the world, which then shapes architecture, which we then have to respond to.” He would like attendees to come away with new perspectives, including “How do I use AI to do things that were impossible to do or even imagine before AI? What new skills, capabilities, and work areas will AI enable? How do I reinvent myself and the design profession, knowing this is a permanent part of our human landscape?”

We hope you’re excited to learn more from Eric during his powerful keynote that should spark many interesting conversations—and inspiration for the future—in our Lean design community.

Associate Dean and Professor Adjunct, Yale School of Architecture, and author of Machine Learning: Architecture in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Phil, who has taught at the Yale School of Architecture since 1988, is a former vice president at Autodesk, where he was responsible for the company’s building information modeling (BIM) strategy, including the development of Autodesk’s Revit software.

He is the author of “Machine Learning: Architecture in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” first published in 2022 and coming out in a second edition this year. The book provides a strategy for long-term success during this time of vast technological change. He is a senior fellow of the Design Futures Council and former chair of the AIA Contracts Documents Committee.

Phil’s keynote address will focus on Mediated Agency and Collective Intelligence: The Emergent Future of AI and Lean. He notes that “AI purports to introduce new models of agency and knowledge into the systems of delivery, presenting both opportunities and threats to clients, designers, and builders.” His talk will explore the evolution of this technology and cover its potential relationship to Lean principles and strategies.

Don’t miss this opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the potential impact of machine learning technologies and AI on the design process—including scenarios for the use of AI in the optimization of design and construction workflows based on Lean principles, and much more!