Heads Up

Three days dedicated to the future of higher education: Under the motto “Heads Up!” The University:Future Festival (U:FF) took place from April 26 to 28, 2023 at three different locations in Germany in person and in the digital space. With almost 4,000 people attending online and/or on site, 600 speakers in over 300 sessions, the Future Festival organized by the University Forum for Digitalization and the Innovation in Higher Education Teaching Foundation was the largest and most innovative event of its kind in Germany. The festival covered a variety of topics related to digital transformation, including artificial intelligence, architectures, digital technologies, strategy development, competencies and didactics. It offered a comprehensive bilingual program with lectures, workshops, discussions and microtrainings selected from an international university community.

parametric design

The Jade University was represented by Prof. Dr. Gregor Grunwald as well as Tobias Hanke and Jan Yoshio Kawasaki. The Department of Architecture was able to contribute to the topic of digital transformation in architecture with an exhibition at the Patrice Lumumba Gallery. The room was decorated with a larger-than-life wooden sculpture, which was designed using parametric modelling and set up on site. The stacking tower is an example of computer-aided generation of geometries based on parameters and the relationship they have with each other.

Augmented Reality

Festival visitors were able to test these form-finding processes on site using augmented reality (AR). Appropriate glasses were provided for this purpose, which made a digital twin of the tower visible in the room. Sliders enabled visitors to test parametric design, change the geometry of the virtual tower and thus create new shapes. In addition, video sequences of the AR-based production of the timber tower taught and explained how the digital 3D model can be implemented, manufactured and built from the CAD environment into reality with the help of AR glasses and shed light on the associated potential of this manufacturing technology.

Three worlds

Reality merged with virtuality and so the completely virtual 3D replica of the Patrice Lumumba Gallery rounded off the presentation in a third virtual world. As a result, the room could also be experienced by all festival guests who only joined online - and is still accessible today. View of the Patrice Lumumba Gallery.

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