Speculative Design in a Digital World: Leveraging Data to Anticipate Tomorrow
Speculative Design in a Digital World: Leveraging Data to Anticipate Tomorrow
Speaker:
Jorge Castillo Velasquez
Summary:
While speculative design is often misunderstood as mere science fiction, it drives out of the box thinking, uncovers future project challenges, and envisions “what-if” possibilities within the design process. Today, data-driven workflows challenge the traditional role of speculation by demanding accurate and measurable data-supported outcomes. This CPD session introduces the foundational concepts of speculative design, showcasing its application through a series of biodesign architectural projects. Ultimately, it explores this critical intersection, questioning how existing data can be leveraged alongside speculation to anticipate future scenarios and deliberately shape design for preferable outcomes.
This talk was delivered online on 30 June 2026. Talk duration is 50 minutes.
Speaker Bio:
Jorge Castillo is a Colombian Architect and Civil Engineer with two decades of industry experience. After completing a Master of Design Innovation and Technology at RMIT University where his passion expanded into speculation, biodesign, and parametric workflows. Jorge currently is pursuing a PhD with Swinburne University and Arch_Manu, investigating how data circularity can augment design decisions across the AEC industry.
CPD Details:
This talk is offered as a formal CPD activity for architects, mapped to performance criteria PC18, PC 24 and PC28 in the Australian 2021 National Standard of Competencies for Architects.
A copy of the CPD questions can be accessed here. If you take notes in digital format during the video, you will be able to copy/paste your answers into the questionnaire at the end.
Upon completion of the video, a link to the CPD questionnaire will be unlocked. Submit your answers via that link to earn 1 formal CPD point and receive your certificate for record-keeping purposes. Note: The questionnaire link will only load if the video is viewed from this webpage. If you navigate to YouTube to view the video, you will not be able to access it.