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Benhaz Farahi
Creative TechnologistBehnaz Farahi is an Iranian-born American designer, architect and creative technologist working at the intersection of architecture, fashion and interactive design. She holds a PhD in Interdisciplinary Media Arts and Practice from the University of Southern California and has degrees in architecture. Her work explores how emerging technologies can create more responsive relationships between the human body and its environment, drawing inspiration from natural systems. She specialises in computational design, interactive technologies, 3D printing and digital fabrication, addressing themes such as emotion, bodily perception, feminism and social interaction. Her work has been exhibited internationally at Ars Electronica and SIGGRAPH, and she has received awards including the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum Digital Design Award. She is an Assistant Professor at the MIT Media Lab, where she leads the Critical Matter research group.
In this presentation, Behnaz Farahi explores how 3D printing and interactive technologies can transform the relationship between the human body, clothing and the built environment. Through experimental designs that combine computational modelling, sensors and responsive materials, she develops wearable structures that react to human movement, gaze and emotional cues. Projects such as Bodyscape and Caress of the Gaze illustrate how clothing can become an interactive extension of the body, creating dynamic forms that respond to their surroundings. Her work challenges the boundary between architecture, fashion and technology, envisioning environments and objects that behave more like living systems.
