Sana Murrani

Dr Sana Murrani - ()

Job title: Lecturer in Architecture, School of Architecture, Design and Environment (Faculty of Arts)
Address: Room 401, Roland Levinsky Building, Drake Circus,
Plymouth, Devon, PL4 8AA
Postal address: Room 401, Roland Levinsky Building, Drake Circus,
Plymouth, Devon, PL4 8AA
Telephone: +441752585162
Email: sana.murrani@plymouth.ac.uk

Role
Main role: Lecturer in Architecture.

Stage 2 BA Hons Architecture Year Leader, Design Modules (DSGN236 & DSGN237) leader as well as Context Essay (ARCO319) module leader for Stage 3 BA Hons Architecture Dissertation.

And I'm also part of the teaching and supervision team of the new MRes Architecture, titled: Re-thinking Architecture.

Qualifications & background

BSc Architecture, MSc Architecture, PhD

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy [FHEA]

Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice.

Sana Murrani (b. 1977, British-Iraqi) is an experimental architect, and currently holds the position of Lecturer in Architecture at the University of Plymouth, UK. She studied Architecture in Baghdad University School of Architecture, graduating in 2000, and obtained her masters degree from the same school in 2003. Her thesis dealt with the emergence of architectural form and formulation by drawing an analogy between architecture and genetics. Murrani started working as a professional architect in 2000 in Iraq. She is presently exploring aspects of the emergence of biological/artificial systems and perception, and the behaviour of architectural situations of in-between representation and experience. Sana Murrani is a member of the Planetary Collegium’s CAiiA-Hub in Plymouth, UK where she undertook her PhD under the supervision of Roy Ascott (President of Planetary Collegium), Mike Phillips (Director of i-DAT), and computer scientist Steve Grand.

My doctoral research was undertaken with the Planetary Collegium Group,

School of Art and Media, Faculty of Arts, University of Plymouth, thesis titled:

Unstable Territories of Representation:

Architectural Experience and the behaviour of forms, spaces and the collective dynamic environment.

Roles on external bodies
A reviewer for Routledge architecture series: Thinkers for Architects

Teaching interests
Experimentation in Architecture through different tools of representation and technologies [Sketches, Digital Drawings, Rapid Prototyping/Laser Cutting, MultiMedia technologies].

Focusing on the design process and the creation of narratives as a tool for design, communication as well as representation [Narratives, Diagrams, Story Boards, Comic Strips, Developmental Models].

Integrating theory and practice in studio teaching [Linking Mid and late Twentieth Century and Current Theories of architecture to Experimental Design and Practices].

Research interests

I’m interested in architectural philosophy and theory of transdisciplinary research particularly experimental and interactive/participatory work involving the fields of technoscience and art/architecture. My work investigates the impact of implementing second-order cybernetics and interactive technologies on the creation of temporary and generative situations in architecture through explorations of design processes derived from biological systems, different media of representation and perceptual/cognitive experiences that challenge our consciousness. My research interests span between: experimental architecture, architectural theory of transdisciplinary research [Science, Art/Architecture and Technology], explorations of architectural representation in different media [Bio-Techno-Cognitive], and the cybernetic and post-phenomenological praxis of notions of worldmaking in architecture under the influence of current dynamic cultures. Philosophers and theorists of particular interest to me are: Sanford Kwinter, Heinz von Foerster, Nelson Goodman, and Don Ihde, as well as the critique of Deleuze and Guattari, and Gottfried Leibniz philosophies.

UoP Research group membership

Culture, Theory, Space

Other research

Member of the Planetary Collegium

Collaborator with i-DAT

Collaborator with Art + Sound

Creative practice & artistic projects

Exhibitions:

Cabinet: Changing Perceptions, PenArts Gallery, University of Plymouth, UK 2011.

Architectural Week Exhibition, Out of Scale, Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth, UK 2004.

Conferences and workshops attended:

ISEA2011 Istanbul, Panel discussion: The Volatility and Stability of WorldMaking as Techné. Inter Society of Electronic Arts (ISEA2011) conference in Istanbul, September 14th-21st 2011. Invited panelists: Roy Ascott and Marcos Novak. Chair and Co chairs: MarkDavid Hosale, Sana Murrani and Alberto de Campo.

Fixed? Architecture, Incompleteness and Change, School of Architecture, Design and Environment, University of Plymouth, UK, 7-8 April 2011, p20.

The 13th Generative Art Conference15th, 16th, 17th of December, Milan-Italy.

9^th Consciousness Reframed Conference: NewRealities: Being Syncretic. Vienna July 3-5 2008.

Vice Chancellor's Research& Innovation Conference, The University of Plymouth - UK April 2007.

8^thConsciousness Reframed Conference: Art & Consciousness in thePost-Biological Era, Plymouth - UK, July 21-23 2006.

Models of Machine learningin Creative Design Conference, DCC'06, Eindhoven Technical University andUniversity College London, The Netherlands, July 2006.

SlidingScales Workshop,i-DAT and the Bartlett School of Architecture, The University of Plymouth - UKNovember 2006.

Designing for the 21^stCentury Workshop, University of Westminster, London, September 2005.

Altered States Conference:Transformations of Perception, Place and Performance, The University of Plymouth, Plymouth - UK July2005.

BIOTECH ART, SymbioticAand Kings College, London, March-April 2005.

Sensational NetInternational Conference, Fortaleza - Brazil, November 2003.

Publications

Refereed book, journal, and conference proceeding articles:

MURRANI, S & EMMETT, M. 2011. Overlaid Realities. In: Cabinet: Changing Perceptions Catalogue, University of Plymouth Press, UK. 16-17 & 26-27.

MURRANI, S. 2011. Third Way Architecture: Between Cybernetics and Phenomenology. In: Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research 8 (3), 267-281.

MURRANI, S. 2010. Architecture of Generative Situations. In: 13th Generative Art Conference. Milan – Italy, Domus Argenia Publisher.

MURRANI, S. 2009. Instability andIncompleteness in Architecture. In: ASCOTT, R., BAST, G., FIEL, W.,JAHRMANN, M. & SCHNELL, R. (eds.) New Realities: Being Syncretic.Wien: Springer. 202-206.

MURRANI, S. 2007. The Behaviour ofArchitectural Forms. Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research,5 (3), 133-149.

MURRANI, S. 2005. Re-thinking ArchitecturalForm: The Emergence of Self-organized Architectural Form. In: Altered States Conference: Transformationsof Perception, Place and Performance Plymouth, UK. Liquid Reader.

Published abstracts:

MURRANI, S. 2011. Unstable Territories of Representation: Architectural Experience and the Behaviour of Forms, Spaces and the Collective Dynamic Environment (PhD thesis abstract). LABS: Leonardo ABstracts Service, UK. Online: http://leonardolabs.pomona.edu/SearchDetails.aspx?UID=331.

MURRANI, S. 2007.Architectural Form between Theory and Practice: Architectural Form Perceivedand Conceived as a Set of Behaviours. In:Vice Chancellor’s Research and Innovation Conference Plymouth, UK. Poster.

MURRANI, S. 2006. Stigmergic Architecture. In:ASCOTT, R., ed. Art and Consciousness in the Post-Biological Era: 8thInternational Consciousness Reframed Conference Plymouth - UK. University ofPlymouth Press.

MURRANI, S. 2003. TransphenomicArchitecture. In: MACIEL, K.,PARENTE, A., ASCOTT, R., NOBREGA, G., eds. Sensational Net InternationalConference Fortaleza – Brazil. 27.

Other academic activities

Member of the Planetary Collegium Research Group, University of Plymouth, since Jul. 2003.

Member of the Architectural Humanities Research Association AHRA, since Jan. 2008.

Member of the Culture-Theory-Space group, University of Plymouth, since Sep. 2009.

Representing Architecture on the Peninsula Arts Gallery Programming Advisory Group PAGPAG, University of Plymouth, since Sep. 2010.

Links
http://sanamurrani.me.uk/