Andreea Ion Cojocaru is a licensed architect, software developer, and the co-founder & CEO of NUMENA, an award-winning German company. Andreea works at the intersection of architecture and immersive tech to develop projects and tools that explore new approaches to cognitive and spatial challenges.
Andreea was formally trained as an architect at MIT and Yale, where she was awarded the AIA Gold Medal for best graduating master student by the American Institute of Architects. Prior to NUMENA, she gained design and project management experience in architecture practices such as Kohn Pederson Fox and Robert A.M. Stern in New York. She is the recipient of numerous fellowships and a frequent guest speaker at international events in the XR space.
Andreea believes that by expanding the possibilities and affordances of spatial experience, we are expanding and redefining identity, subjectivity and modes of collective being. Her methodology is grounded in classical phenomenology and cognitive neuroscience.
Currently, she is working on a tool that allows users to create, share and edit environments at 1:1 scale through multisensorial interactive narratives (numena.design). She is also leading projects that combine physical and virtual elements to explore collective agency across spatial dimensions.
Andreea Ion Cojocaru
SPECULATIVE TALK & FICTION
January 8, 2022
Top 10: The Crazy Things I Said (about VR & Architecture) in 2021
The most out there things I said in 2021 in my attempt to frame, though the lens of virtual reality, what a different future (for architecture and beyond) might be about.
August 26, 2020
Speculative Fiction #1: I got into a fight with my virtual self
Two fictional AIs interrogate each other about the nature of virtual space and consciousness.
SELECTED TALKS
December 2, 2022
MIDIS ARCHI: Andreea Ion Cojocaru
Guest lecture at HEAD, the school of art and design in Geneva, on the importance and promise of immersive tech beyond simulation.
May 13, 2022
Future of Text Guest Speaker: Andreea Ion Cojocaru
How will thoughts change because I’ve just spent half a day embodying an octopus? How can we shape virtual worlds around problems and shared significance?
December 6, 2021
‘Designing the Designer’ with Andreea Cojocaru, TRXL Podcast 065.
VR creative tools can change architecture. But in this episode, I explore the deeper implications: tools this powerful don’t just change the process & the outcome, they also change the designer. They have the power to (cognitively) design the designer.
November 11, 2021
The Future of Architecture: Design and Code Across Realities, AEC Magazine, NXT BLD Conference, London.
The talk is about ways of seeing the world that have reached their expiration date & about new approaches with huge potential for disruption, like spatial tech and the VR design tool we are developing at NUMENA.
September 12, 2021
Designing in VR and App Development with Andreea Ion Cojocaru, podcast episode, Engineering ArchiTECHure.
I sat down with Mayur Mistry to talk about the VR tool we’ve been developing at NUMENA and the type of workflows we are experimenting with.
July 19, 2021
VR Design Exposed. Guest podcast episode, Eric for President.
Designing virtual bodies and their locomotion technique should go hand in hand with designing immersive environment + some thoughts on the kind of creatures we are in VR.
May 28, 2021
Where Are You, Who Are You? The Thinning Thickness of The Real, UW Reality Lab.
There are things I feel, think & do in VR that are qualitatively different than anything I’ve ever experienced in physical reality in a major way. Here’s a take on why & where it’s all going.
May 8, 2021
Andreea Ion Cojocaru On Why The Architecture Of Virtual Spaces Matters, UploadVR.
Why virtual architecture matters, how it differs from physical space, why it should have a dynamic relationship with users & more.
February 20, 2021
“Who am I? I am the space. A journey with Andreea Ion Cojocaru”, Singularity Watch, S01 Episode #10.
A conversation about virtual architecture as well as identity, boundaries and forms of embodiment in immersive environments.
December 14, 2020
“VR Architecture & Tools For Thought with Andreea Ion Cojocaru”, Mind Meld Podcast with Josh Gonsalvez, Episode #28.
One of the most in depth talks I’ve had about the XR industry & what I’m trying to achieve in it as an architect..
October 10, 2020
“Between Realities ft. Andreea Ion Cojocaru”, Between Realities, Episode #15, Season 2.
I talk for the first time about the VR game we’re working on & why I believe VR will change what real buildings & cities look like.
May 2, 2020
“Half Life Alyx’s Immersive Architecture & Experiential Design”, with Kent Bye and Fredrik Hellberg.
The one thing you MUST watch. This was an epic conversation about the principles & potential of virtual architecture.
April 24, 2020
“RTC 2020 Extended Intro – Alex Coulombe & Andreea Ion Cojocaru Talk Virtual Architecture”, Realtime Conference PREVIEW.
Why, as architects, we love to explore space making beyond gravity & why our virtual environments have at least two suns.
March 27, 2020
“Transcending Reality w/ Andreea Ion Cojocaru”, Between Realities, Episode #7.
This conversation is a trip down the rabbit hole of VR and philosophy. Buckle up.
August 26, 2019
“Cultivating Architectural Design Intuition with VR & Hacking the Boundaries of Perception”, Voices of VR Podcast, Episode #803.
Part I is about the relationship b/w physical & virtual space. Part II is a rare dive into my VR brain hack experiments.
March 1, 2019
“The Thinning Thickness of the World, A Phenomenological Account”, Architecture of the Immersive Internet Symposium, Architectural Association, London.
A theoretical framework for VR based on classical phenomenology (Merleau-Ponty & Husserl). Starts at 00:50.
December 7, 2018
“The Phenomenology of Architecture & How VR is Revolutionizing Spatial Design Intuition”, Voices of VR Podcast, Episode #719.
How the design of a space can influence your perception of time & why where you are = who you are. “This convo blew my mind.” Kent Bye
