Sounding objects for societal impact
Join us for a two-day symposium dedicated to exploring how sound can inform and transform design practices for societal good.
Sound is a vital yet often overlooked dimension of our interactions with the world. It plays a key role in shaping human experiences, environmental awareness, and social cohesion. It influences human perception, urban and ecological systems, and cultural practices – yet it currently remains a gap in how sound is considered and integrated.
This symposium aims to bridge that gap through a multidisciplinary research dialogue, bringing together the sound and design research communities. We will investigate how systemic approaches to sound-driven design can help address the ways in which society influences and is influenced by sound.
Focus & Themes
This research-focused event will bring together experts in design and sound to explore how systemic approaches to sound-driven design can support societal transformation, through three main thematic sessions:
1. Design Process and Methodology
2. Human-Technology Entanglement
3. Societal Impact of Design
Each session will feature paired lectures and dialogues from design and sound experts, followed by facilitated thematic focus groups. Outcomes from these discussions will be considered for publication in the DRS Digital Library.
Public
This symposium is designed as an active research event where participants can actively engage in research discussions. We therefore expect participants to be at least advanced PhD students. We also welcome early-career or confirmed researchers and practitioners with a strong academic or practice-based interest in design and sound engaged in interdisciplinary work.
Organization
Perception & Sound Design team at the STMS Laboratory (IRCAM, Sorbonne université, CNRS, ministère de la Culture) , the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology and the Design Research Society Special Interest Group on Sound-Driven Design.
With support from the Centre de Recherche en Design (ENS Paris-Saclay / ENSCI – Les Ateliers) and PEPR ICCARE (Design and Architecture)
This work benefited from State aid managed by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche under the France 2030 programme,under the reference ANR-23-PEIC-0001.
Program
D = Design expert ; S = Sound expert
Thursday, September 11
8:45am | Welcome 9:00am | Theme 1: Design process and methodology
Lecture 1D - Design intermediary / boundary objects
with Jean-Francois Boujut, Institute of Engineering and Management of Grenoble INP - UGA
Lecture 1S - Sonic Boundary Objects
with Florian Grond, Concordia University
Dialogue
10:00am | Focus groups formation + Coffee break 11:00am | Parallel focus groups (max 10 members) + short reporting 12:30am | Lunch break 2:00pm | Theme 2: Human-Technology Entanglement
Lecture 2D - Sonic Entanglements: Rethinking Human-Technology Relations Through Sound
with Maria Luce Lupetti, Politecnico of Torino
Lecture 2S - Perspectives in Designing Movement-Sound Interaction
with Frédéric Bevilacqua, IRCAM STMS Lab
Dialogue
3:00pm | Focus groups formation + Coffee break 4:00 - 5:30pm | Parallel focus groups (max 10 members) + short reporting
Friday, September 12
8:45am | Welcome 9:00am | Theme 3: Societal impact of design
Lecture 3D - Ecologies of Making: A Question for Society
with Émile De Visscher, CRD ENS Paris-Saclay Ensci Les Ateliers
Lecture 3S - Sonic possibility and habitability
with Salomé Voegelin, London College of Communication, University of the Arts
Dialogue
10:00am | Focus groups formation + Coffee break 11:00am | Parallel focus groups (max 10 members) + short reporting 12:30am | Lunch break 2:00pm | Preparation of focus groups presentations 3:00pm | Coffee break 3:30pm | Presentation of results (30 min / group) 5:00pm | Synthesis & Perspectives 5:30pm | Closing aperitif