In his May 30, 2002 SEGD presentation, Anders provoked designers to recognize that the symbols they manipulate, such as plans, elevations, and digital models, need not be limited in their use to merely instructing others how to build physical things. Digital design models—virtual environments—can be the end product of the design process itself. Moreover, while some design programmatic elements may call for purely physical realizations, others may permit part-real/part-virtual realizations or even solutions that are entirely virtual. The resulting mix of physical and digital spaces is what Anders defines as the cybrid condition, a condition that all designers in the twenty-first century must be prepared to address. Expanded coverage of his ideas may be found on the website of his design consultancy, MindSpace.
Peter Anders is an architect, educator, and information design theorist. He has published widely on the architecture of cyberspace and is the author of Envisioning Cyberspace, which presents design principles for on-line spatial environments. Peter received his B.S. from the University of Michigan and M.A. from Columbia University. He is currently a fellow of the University of Plymouth CAiiA-STAR Ph.D. program. He was a principal in an architectural firm in New York City until 1994, when he formed MindSpace.net, an architectural practice specializing in media/information environments. He is also the director of CLEAR, the Center for Learning Environment Applications and Research, at Saginaw Valley State University. He has received numerous design awards for his work and has taught graduate level design studios and computer-aided design at universities including the New Jersey Institute of Technology, University of Detroit-Mercy, and the University of Michigan. His work has been featured in professional journals, and he has presented his research on the architecture of cyberspace in several international venues including The New York Architectural League, Xerox PARC, ISEA, CAiiA, Cyberconf, ACADIA, AEC, ACM-Multimedia, InterSymp, and the World Future Society.
Contact: ptr@mindspace.net
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